Vis 2003: Getting Link To Database to work?

[fried duck]

I've given up. After seeing the beautiful work Visio 2003 does of
creating web pages with great navigation and search capabilities, I
can't get the Link to Database feature to work. I've tried every menu
item, button, and option, in every combination.

I want to add info related to my diagram (currently in a database)
into custom properties, and then publish.

Any hints about steps to make this happen? I can export, but any
attempt to get changes in the diagram to reflect in the DB or vice
versa haven't worked.

If you've gotten it to work & can provide steps or a pointer to add'l
info on the subject I'd be obliged.

TIA,

Jeff

 

[David Parker]

Have you tried using the DB Wizard to create linked shapes\records, and then
run the DB Wizard again to create a DB Refresh for the page(s)? You will
need to open the doc, refresh, and then re-publish to see the changes in the
web-pages.

It does work. You can even do a little automation to silently batch
opening, refreshing and publishing of documents.

 

[fried duck]

Have you tried using the DB Wizard to create linked shapes\records, and then
run the DB Wizard again to create a DB Refresh for the page(s)? You will
need to open the doc, refresh, and then re-publish to see the changes in the
web-pages.

It does work. You can even do a little automation to silently batch
opening, refreshing and publishing of documents.

David,

Thank you for the response. It's the second step I've never
run/encountered. When you say create a DB Refresh what exactly do you
mean?

I've both exported and used the DB wizard to link it to a table.
Inevitably it wants me to define a field in the table (and a custom
property in the shape) to hold the key that will match.

The export/DB Wizard will put the ShapeID in the table, but no steps
I've found will either a.) Associate it with Visio's native ShapeID,
or b.) populate the custom property with this value.

I know I'm missing something simple. Any/all help is very much
appreciated.

Jeff

 

[David Parker]

Dear Fried Duck,

Sorry, but I am vegetarian ...

Try :-

Tools \ Macros (or Addons if you are in Developer Mode) \ Database
Wizard
Create a linked drawing ...
Add database actions and events to a drawing page

 

[fried duck]

Dear Fried Duck,

Sorry, but I am vegetarian ...

Try :-

Tools \ Macros (or Addons if you are in Developer Mode) \ Database
Wizard
Create a linked drawing ...
Add database actions and events to a drawing page

David,

Thanks for the help. I got it work, but it still requires that I go
in each shape and enter it's PK value in a custom property, and new
shapes don't automatically create DB records. So, although for small
diagrams I could do it, in my environment it would create a
maintenance nightmare.

From the description in the help it sounded like a promise of
automatically (automagically?) synchronizing db and diagram.

Thank you for your patience and assistance,

Jeff