M
Mark Freeman
I have a Visio 2003 Database Diagram (ERD) that has about 100 tables.
There are about a dozen tables whose primary keys are at one end of
most relationships. To make this crowded E-size diagram easier to
follow, I want to have the relationships involving each of these
"major" tables PK to have a specific line color. So for example, all
the relationship lines between MajorTableOne's primary key and any
other table would be blue.
To accomplish this, I created a style (based on the Connector style)
for each of these dozen or so major tables, changing only the line
color. I applied the appropriate style to the various relationship
lines, and it looked wonderful.
Then I turned on the display of crows feet. They only appear on the
relationship lines that do *not* have one of the custom styles
applied. Those colored lines still show the arrows.
If I select a line that does show crows feet and then apply one of the
custom styles, the crows feet change to arrows, the line changes from
dashed to solid, etc.
Of course, I can select one of these lines and just change the color
through the format menu, but I'd much prefer to use a line style for
better maintainability. (In case I want to change the MajorTableOne
relationships from blue to red, I'd only need to do it in the style
definition instead of having to reformat each of the lines
individually.)
How can I create a style that will show a different color, but
otherwise be bound by the same formatting rules that Visio
automatically applies to relationship connectors?
There are about a dozen tables whose primary keys are at one end of
most relationships. To make this crowded E-size diagram easier to
follow, I want to have the relationships involving each of these
"major" tables PK to have a specific line color. So for example, all
the relationship lines between MajorTableOne's primary key and any
other table would be blue.
To accomplish this, I created a style (based on the Connector style)
for each of these dozen or so major tables, changing only the line
color. I applied the appropriate style to the various relationship
lines, and it looked wonderful.
Then I turned on the display of crows feet. They only appear on the
relationship lines that do *not* have one of the custom styles
applied. Those colored lines still show the arrows.
If I select a line that does show crows feet and then apply one of the
custom styles, the crows feet change to arrows, the line changes from
dashed to solid, etc.
Of course, I can select one of these lines and just change the color
through the format menu, but I'd much prefer to use a line style for
better maintainability. (In case I want to change the MajorTableOne
relationships from blue to red, I'd only need to do it in the style
definition instead of having to reformat each of the lines
individually.)
How can I create a style that will show a different color, but
otherwise be bound by the same formatting rules that Visio
automatically applies to relationship connectors?