Visio file format question

[Ianb]

Hi

Can anyone please help me? I am customising my sharepoint site and want to
be able to use Visio documents. My requirements are;
1. I want to be able to update these documents programmatically and
2. I want to view the documents on PCs that don't have Visio installed. Also
3. I want to be able to move and manage the documents easily so I prefer
them to be fully contained in one doucment.
4. I need to have working hyperlinks from the Visio document

I have similar requirements of Word documents so I used the Word XML format
and this is proving to be a workable solution. I was hoping to be able to use
Visio XML but this is far from workable at this stage.

The configurations I have tried include
1. Visio XML - (creates a vdx file) this opens visio rather than the
browser. If I preview in browser I get a message that the page cannot be
displayed
2. Visio htm file. This creates numerous files so makes portablilty an issue
3. Visio XML embedded in Word XML. Hyperlinks from visio don't work and the
Visio file is embedded as binary... hence difficult to edit programmatically

The solutions I can see are:
1. build Visio style flows in word and publish as XML (ouch... does anyone
know of a utility that will convert visio docs to word?
2. use a Visio viewer web part for visio documents - I haven't researched
this option as it is outside the document model that I am building

Can anyony see another workable solution? Ideally I'd like a visio file
format that supports me requirements but maybe I'm blinkered by that solution

Thanks

Ian B

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

SharePoint has built-in support for the Visio binary file type (.VSD). You
can store the other document forms in a SharePoint library, but they are
treated the same as any generic document.

Generally when you want to programmatically update a Visio document, you go
through the Visio API. It is certainly possible to store a Visio document
in XML form and modify the XML outside of Visio. However, many operations
that would be fairly simple in the API would involve more difficult
manipulation of the XML. Connecting shapes together is one example.

The Visio Viewer is capable of displaying either binary or XML documents.

 

[Ianb]

Thanks Mark

Can you please outline the features of the built-in support? (btw I'm using
WSS). I'm excited about the prospect of a Visio API is this part of the
support you are refering too? I don't have Visual studio.net - can I update
the Visio API from a asp.net app

I've looked at the Visio viewer and from the MS literature it requires either:
Windows 2000 Professional (with Service Pack 3 or later)
Windows 2000 Server (with Service Pack 3 or later)
Windows XP Professional (with Service Pack 1 or later)
Windows 2003 Server (RTM release or later)
The clients that I want to run it on are generally low(ish) spec so I don't
think thats an option (unless I run it over Citrix) so this is a major
disadvantage to using Visio at all

Current options:
1. Build Visio style flows in word and publish as XML
2. Run the system through Citrix until clients are upgraded (far into the
future if ever looking at the client requirements above)

Hhhhmmmm

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

This is not my area of expertise, so I have no real details to give you. If
you have not explored the Visio site on MSDN, you should start there. There
is a full SDK available for Visio 2002 and Visio 2003 - look under
downloads.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/visio/

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.