Using the 2003 TypeLib with Visio 2002?

[Markus Breugst]

Hi All,

we would like to achieve Visio 2003 compatibility for our .NET application
with minimal effort. So I tried to just exchange the type libraries, using
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio2003.dll instead of the 2002 version. The only
other thing I do is to save all drawings in the 2002 format. That's all.

Now my question: Although first tests (with Visio 2002 and 2003, both using
the 2003 library) have not shown any problems, I would like to know if there
are any known drawbacks with this approach.

Thanks in advance for any information & best regards,
Markus

 

[Markus Breugst]

Just a little clarification concerning my previous post:
We want our application to run with Visio 2002 and(!) Visio 2003 without the
need for different versions of our application. So we hope that the
Visio2003 library works together with Visio2002. Can anybody confirm or
contradict this assumption?

Best regards,
Markus

 

[Mike Z]

In our case, we've found that Visio 2002 and 2003 may have some
compatibility issue with its "Drop" function. What we did was to use the
same VSD file, created and saved in Visio 2002, to access Visio's object
model. It's been working fine with Visio 2002, but not with Visio 2003. The
latter will mess up the shape drawing when using the "Drop" function to drop
the masters in the Document Stencil.

Hope someone may provide some insights to this compatibility problem.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Mike Z]

Hi Markus,

Your assumption can be confirmed by the OLE/COM technology that Visio has
been based upon. The foundation of OLE/COM technology is built on so-called
reusability in binary. In other words, the same Visio software or its
libraries may be accessed and used the same way regardless its versions. The
newer version of the libraries should be always backward compatible, though
it may add new interfaces/methods on the top of the existing
interfaces/methods. So in your case, at least in theory, it's safe to use
the newer version of Visio (via its TLB) in support of your existing
application software, which's based on the older version of Visio.

In our experience lately with Visio 2003, all the interfaces/methods that we
have been using are still supported. One problem we've run into is with its
drawing or "Drop" function in the Page interface. It looks like its behavior
has been somewhat changed, that it's no longer in alignment with the same
function in Visio 2002. However, I believe Visio will or should correct it
or give guidance of how to avoid the problem.

Take care,

Mike

 

[Markus Breugst]

Hello Mike,

thanks a lot for this valuable information.

Best regards,
Markus