Creating a Custom Text Report Using Newly Added Custom Properties

[Sue Philbrook]

Hi,

I have tried finding support or articles on how to use Visio for this
purpose. I can see that it is possible, but I have a few questions:
1. Can I apply new custom properties to a shape that has already been used
to create a flowchart (for instance, I would like to change the properties of
a process block shape and have the new properties tied to all instances of
the shape used in an existing flowchart).
2. How can I specifically select what shapes I want to include in a report?
3. Where can I locate the format applied to the report format and how can I
change the layout.

The intention is to create a flowchart and to put behind each step/shape the
details to follow (consisting of process, decision, and document shapes) by
creating new custom property fields. After the flowchart is completed, a text
document would be created by generating a custom report, so the report format
needs slight modification so that it imitates a text document more closely.

Looking for help in how we could customize Visio to handle the task or for a
3rd party product that could satisfy this requirement.

Thanks,
Sue

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Visio's reporting feature can be found under Tools > Reports. You can
define a new report and specify which shapes to report on and which custom
properties to include in the report. It is a bit trickier to specify a
pre-defined format for the look of the report. I believe you can do this
for the HTML report. Otherwise, you might be able to generate an XML report
and then bring it into a formatted Word document.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

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

 

[Sue Philbrook]

I found that much info in Visio help, but the help section for reports needs
more detail. It did not address the questions that I posted here.

1. I am working with existing flowcharts. Can I apply new properties to a
shape that has been used and have the new properties save to all instances of
a shape used in an existing flowchart (looking for bulk change rather than
having to change each instance manually).
2. When I ran an experimental report, it looks as though there are certain
fields that are autogenerated within the report. These fields are unnecessary
(and in appropriate) to the type of text report that I am trying to create.
How can I eliminate them from autogenerating into the report?
3. I can see there are different options for generating a report (html,
etc.) but where is the code stored that defines the resulting layout of a
report? I need to know where to go and what to do to change be able to change
the report format.
4. Are there any tools/add-ons out there that would provide a convertion
from flowchart (detailed process flowcharts) into text formatted
instructional document? Perferrably, the text doc would be updated anytime
that the flowchart is updated.

Thanks,
Sue

 

[David Parker]

Sue,

You can add more custom properties to the master in the document stencil,
and then all of the instances will inherit them. Unfortunately though, you
will need to repeat for each flow chart master that you have used.
(You can use the Drawing Explorer window to view/edit the masters in the
document.)

Since the Visio reporting tool is limited, you could use it to export to
XML, and then use XSL to reformat as you desire.

Also, you could have some code to export the contents of you flowchart into
an XML file whenever you save the document.
If you are a coder, then there are some examples of how to walk through
connections in the Visio SDK

David Parker
Visio MVP