How can I manipulate the way visio displays imported data in a sha

[Robert R]

Operating System: Windows XP SP 3
Tools: MS Visio 2007 and MS Excel 2007

Desired Achievement:
Import an Excel data file into Visio. Use Visio to create shapes in a
flowchart that displays the data from the excel file.

I have an Excel file that contains the following header row GRANTOR, TO,
GRANTEE, TYPE, DATE, FILE, BOOK, PAGE, ENTRY and COMMENT. GRANTOR, TO,
GRANTEE, TYPE and COMMENT contain rows of text data beneath them. DATE and
FILE contain numeric dates and BOOK, PAGE, and ENTRY are numeric values. I
would like to import this data set into MS Visio and then use visio to create
a new shape for each line of data. The desired shape is a basic flowchart box
with the text entered inside left adjusted and to the top in the following
format:
(GRANTOR)
(TO)
(GRANTEE)
(TYPE)
D: (DATE); F: (FILE)
(BOOK)/(PAGE)/(ENTRY)
(COMMENT)

Items in Parentheses represent variable data from the file and all other
characters I would like to be constant in each shape. You will notice that on
lines 5 and 6, I would like to display multiple data values on the same line.
I am having trouble achieving this.

What I have tried so far:
1. Open Visio
2. Open new Basic Organization Chart
3. Click on Data->Line data to shapes. This opens the data selector wizard.
a. Select Excel WB
b. Click on First row data contains column headings
c. Select All Columns and All rows of data
d. Select “Rows in my data do not have unique identifiersâ€
e. Finish
4. The rows of data are now visible in Visio. In the shapes taskpane, I now
select the “Executive†shape.
5. Drag and drop the first row of data onto the visio page.

This is where I start to have problems. I have tried clicking on
Organization Chart in the toolbar and then Options and then selecting the
fields tab. From there I can delete the Name and Title field and add the data
fields from the excel file, but I CANNOT find a way to add the D: and F:
labels as described above and place multiple data fields on one line. I also
have to manually adjust the text justifications to achieve upperleft hand
corner.

An alternative strategy I have tried is to use the Data Graphics tools. I
have read the help section on data graphics and spent most of the afternoon
trying to manipulate the data this way and have been unsuccessful. What I am
looking to do is very simple. I do not need powerful graphics enhancements of
the data, I just need a simple way to place it in a shape.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[AlEdlund]

sounds remarkably like a project my daughter works with (donations analysis
for a large civic organization). If I was advising her, I would suggest
investigating 'pivot tables' for the data mining. Start by building the
table data (you already have most of it) in excel and then use visio for the
visualization.
hth,
al

 

[Robert R]

Thanks for the response. I viewed the Pivot Diagram tutorial and you are
correct, it may be very useful for what I am doing in the future. However,
using a pivot diagram does not address my basic need for manipulating how the
data set is displayed in each specific shape.

 

[AlEdlund]

Well you're moving beyond standard drawing types and will probably have to
custom code a solution. Both John Marshall (visio.mvps.org) and Chris Roth
(www.visguy.com) have sections on their sites with examples of how to code
solutions in vba and references to books/sites for detailed information.
al

 

[WapperDude]

In addition to the references that Al gave, you may also want to check out
David Parker's book, Visualizing Information with Microsoft Visio 2007, and
his website: http://bvisual.spaces.live.com/

Wapperdude

 

[Robert R]

Thanks for all the references gents. I'll be researching a solution and will
keep the forums posted.