Fixes for the VisioModelingEngine for upcoming version(s)

[Clint]

It seems that the 2003 version of Visio bites when trying to access the
VisioModelingEngine (for database modeling). It's not documented by MS,
there's like one web page in the entire Internet that seems to cover it at
all, and the model has a lot of read-only attributes that prevent developers
from properly hooking into it.

So besides a rant to vent my frustrations, is there plans to open up this
portion of Visio to developers? It's really frustrating, because it SEEMS
like we should be able to do exactly what I want, but I can't because the
API is locked down. In case someone is reading this, and found another tool
to do what we're doing, we've got a development environment that's rich with
meta-data. I can access all that meta-data through the application that
we've built, and it would be very useful to generate diagrams of table,
form, and report relationships. My initial plan was to dump out the
meta-data in an XML file that could either be sent or imported into some
sort diagramming tool.

 

[John Marshall, MVP]

The API is not locked down, it just does not exist.

The solution was created before Visio was acquired by MS by a company other
than Visio. So the development of the solution was not the same as other
Visio solutions and unlike other Visio solutions does not have an API. THe
solution became part of Visio when the developers were hired by Visio.

John... Visio MVP

Need stencils or ideas? http://www.mvps.org/visio/3rdparty.htm
Need VBA examples? http://www.mvps.org/visio/VBA.htm
Common Visio Questions http://www.mvps.org/visio/common_questions.htm
Visio Wishlist http://www.mvps.org/visio/wish_list.htm

 

[Clint]

I realize the history, but I guess I figured in the past however many years
since they bought the product, they might have done something more useful
with it. All the other Office packages are constantly being made more open
and extendable, but not the modeling engine. The really frustrating part is
that it seems perfect for what I want to do, and there's a number of things
I can do, but I can't do a complete solution with it. So my only real
option seems to be to find another package that does what I need, which is
going to cost a bunch extra and isn't as distributable to
customers/partners/etc.


--
Clint

The API is not locked down, it just does not exist.

The solution was created before Visio was acquired by MS by a company
other than Visio. So the development of the solution was not the same as
other Visio solutions and unlike other Visio solutions does not have an
API. THe solution became part of Visio when the developers were hired by
Visio.

John... Visio MVP

Need stencils or ideas? http://www.mvps.org/visio/3rdparty.htm
Need VBA examples? http://www.mvps.org/visio/VBA.htm
Common Visio Questions http://www.mvps.org/visio/common_questions.htm
Visio Wishlist http://www.mvps.org/visio/wish_list.htm

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Microsoft has been directing its investments to the new modeling engine in
Visual Studio 2005. The Visual Studio team created a modeler that is
tightly integrated with code generation and extensible. This just was more
feasible than upgrading a modeling engine bought by Visio and then bought by
Microsoft. Visio's modeling engine has been maintained but not enhanced.

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

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

I realize the history, but I guess I figured in the past however many years
since they bought the product, they might have done something more useful
with it. All the other Office packages are constantly being made more open
and extendable, but not the modeling engine. The really frustrating part
is that it seems perfect for what I want to do, and there's a number of
things I can do, but I can't do a complete solution with it. So my only
real option seems to be to find another package that does what I need,
which is going to cost a bunch extra and isn't as distributable to
customers/partners/etc.

 

[John Marshall, MVP]

Mark, one of the advantages of the old version was that it was NOT tied to
Visual Studio. Not all software development is done under Visual Studio. If
you remember, some of us still work on mainframes.

John... Visio MVP

Need stencils or ideas? http://www.mvps.org/visio/3rdparty.htm
Need VBA examples? http://www.mvps.org/visio/VBA.htm
Common Visio Questions http://www.mvps.org/visio/common_questions.htm
Visio Wishlist http://www.mvps.org/visio/wish_list.htm

Microsoft has been directing its investments to the new modeling engine in
Visual Studio 2005. The Visual Studio team created a modeler that is
tightly integrated with code generation and extensible. This just was
more feasible than upgrading a modeling engine bought by Visio and then
bought by Microsoft. Visio's modeling engine has been maintained but not
enhanced.

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

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

 

[Clint]

So in VS2005 (and I realize this is drifting off topic for this group), how
is that accessed? I've got the Team Suite installed on my machine, ready to
go...

Clint

--
Clint

Microsoft has been directing its investments to the new modeling engine in
Visual Studio 2005. The Visual Studio team created a modeler that is
tightly integrated with code generation and extensible. This just was
more feasible than upgrading a modeling engine bought by Visio and then
bought by Microsoft. Visio's modeling engine has been maintained but not
enhanced.

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

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

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

I don't have Team Suite installed, but my understanding is that it is a
separate install available in the same package.

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

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