Generating a visio diagramm based on Excel or Access

[Markus]

Hi,

i want to generate a visio diagramm based on data that are in a excel sheet
or if this will be easier in an access database. I know there is this
database import wizard in visio but this is not what i am searching for.

At the end the result visio diagramm should display the correct stencil
based on the column that is imported (e.g. a server stencil with name, cpu,
ram) AND a connection between the different columns that are in the same row.

Any idea or help where i should start, any further information? Seems this
is a individual VBA programming solution but maybe there is an comfortable
professional software for this available?

Thx in advance for any help!
Markus

 

[AlEdlund]

Most of the commercial products are expensive ($$$), but a pretty
interesting mix. (AssetGen, RackWise, Aperture, etc.).
It can be done in VBA although I'd strongly recommend that you consider
using a .Net language (a lot of example code is available in C#, I prefer
VB.NET).
IME you will eventually need multiple tables, so Excel is probably not the
way you want to go. SQL Server Express is free. You should start by defining
what is going to be in the tables and how they will be related....
If you're just getting started (and haven't done it already) download the
VisioSdk. Both John Marshall (visio.mvps.org) and Chris Roth
(www.visguy.com) have excellent pointers to documentation and lists of
books.
There's some more information on Chris' forums.
al