Hierarchy Layout problem

[gkarras]

I am creating a visio 2007 page with almost 900 shapes that represent a
geneology tree. The creation of the page is done programatically in vb.net
with the following steps:
1) opening a new visio doc
2) dropping the shapes
3) looping on the shapes collection and connecting parents to childs
4) re layout the page with visPLOPlaceHierarchyTopToBottomCenter and
visLORouteSimpleSN

The problem is that the layout is not 100% succesfull. Some shapes get on
top of others. I 've tested my code thoroughly but I haven't figure out
something.

I 've even used the visio sdks sample (WBSTreeView.sln) which has a similar
output but nothing there too. Practically with no code changes in this
project, I have inserted the data in the mpd file and changed the page layout
but still no luck.

Any suggestions how to overcome this problem?

Another interesting thing is that different output is achieved depending on
which shapes I connect first (eg: when I connect parents to childs I have a
diferrent output than when I connect childs to parents. both outputs though
have similar problems with overlapps)...

Thanks in advance!

 

[SteveM]

I am creating a visio 2007 page with almost 900 shapes that represent a
geneology tree. The creation of the page is done programatically in vb.net
with the following steps:
1) opening a new visio doc
2) dropping the shapes
3) looping on the shapes collection and connecting parents to childs
4) re layout the page with visPLOPlaceHierarchyTopToBottomCenter and
visLORouteSimpleSN

The problem is that the layout is not 100% succesfull. Some shapes get on
top of others. I 've tested my code thoroughly but I haven't figure out
something.

I 've even used the visio sdks sample (WBSTreeView.sln) which has a similar
output but nothing there too. Practically with no code changes in this
project, I have inserted the data in the mpd file and changed the page layout
but still no luck.

Any suggestions how to overcome this problem?

Another interesting thing is that different output is achieved depending on
which shapes I connect first (eg: when I connect parents to childs I have a
diferrent output than when I connect childs to parents. both outputs though
have similar problems with overlapps)...

Thanks in advance!

900 Shapes!? Yeow!

It looks like you may have selected the wrong platform for this job.
I don't know if you are prepared to back out now, but there is some
good, cheap visualization software that is perfect for what you're
trying to do. A package I use is called Inspiration. I think it's
around 60 or 70 bucks, and you can get it from Amazon.

It has two primary benefits. One is a function to reorganize the
hierarchy as new members are added and the second is the ability to
open and close branches in clusters. You can also add notes and
hyperlinks to each node. And the software generates a hierarchy
outline in parallel. And that captures both node names and any note
content attached to them. You can also import an outline from a word
document that is properly formatted i.e. an indentation for each level
of the hierarchy and the graphical hierarchy should be generated
simultaneously. And like Visio you can save pages in HTML format.

There is a free trial version you can download from their website. So
you may want to give that a quick try and see if migration to to
Inspiration or something like it may be something to consider.

SteveM

 

[gkarras]

SteveM thanks for the advise. I ve started this project just for fun in order
to learn visio. The 900 relatives of mine already have a visual tree which I
created in Mindjet MindManager. Therefore as u can see I don't really care
for the output. I am only in for the fun of it... Thanks again!

 

[SteveM]

SteveM thanks for the advise. I ve started this project just for fun in order
to learn visio. The 900 relatives of mine already have a visual tree which I
created in Mindjet MindManager. Therefore as u can see I don't really care
for the output. I am only in for the fun of it... Thanks again!

gkarras (george?)

OK I see. I hope you have fun with your Visio family labor of love.
I was going to mention Mind Manager but I know that it's professional
version is a little pricey for a single app.

A little application that I've found a lot of various uses for is
something called GeNie. It was developed by the University of
Pittsburgh to analyze Bayesian networks and influence diagrams.
However it's also a great little tool for more pedestrian applications
like building family trees. It even maintains a compact vertical
hierarchy in one window pane with a descriptive node representation in
another. It's simple to use and what makes it even more attractive is
that it's that it's FREE. Here is a Web link for what it's worth:

http://genie.sis.pitt.edu/?ver=20030060

SteveM

 

[gkarras]

With little more playing around, I came up with the following:

1) Differrent output is achieved, depending on how I connect the shapes, eg:
(When I connect parents to childs I get 10 shapes overlapping and wjen I
connect childs to parents 15 different shapes are overlapping)

2) When I am setting the "Alignment" property in the "Configure Layout"
dialog to Right or Left everything is fine. The problem exists only when I
set it to Center (
Application.ActiveWindow.Page.PageSheet.CellsSRC(visSectionObject,
visRowPageLayout, visPLOPlaceStyle).FormulaForceU = "17")

Therefore I am concluding that there must be a bug with the alignment
property. Anybody knows how to report this?