MSVisio2003 Enterp. Arch. v.s MSVisio2002 Pro?

[genc ymeri]

Hi,
I would like to know what are the advantages of MSVisio2003 Enter Architect
compare with MSVisio2002 Pro ?


Thank You in Advance.

 

[Mike Z]

The major difference from programming point view, in my view, is that Visio
2003 provides the ActiveX control based API that one can load it into one's
application, or so-called in-proc programming. On the other hand, Visio 2002
only allows one to access the API across process, or out-of-proc
programming.

Mike

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

The original post asked for a comparison of "MSVisio2003 Enterprise
Architect" to MSVisio2002 Professional. There has been substantial
confusion about product versions related to Visual Studio.

Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise Architect 2003 ships with a version of
Visio equivalent to Visio 2002. It has the advanced UML code generation and
database forward engineering features. It does not have an ActiveX control.

Microsoft Office Visio 2003 Professional is the latest release of Visio,
using the Visio 2003 engine. This version does not contain the advanced
software and database features found in Enterprise Architect, but it does
have expanded API support and an ActiveX control.

The next release of the Visual Studio product line will refresh the Visio
component to the 2003 engine version.

 

[Mike Z]

Hi Mark,

It's a nice summary to clarify the confusion!

An additional question of mine is that do you have a list of the differences
between Visio 2002 and Visio 2003 in terms of its automation/API? I've been
programming with Visio 2002 for quite a while, and lately testing with Visio
2003 but running a problem of displaying the graphics with the masters
embedded in the Document Stencils. I have used a VSD file as the template
for accessing Visio's object model. It's been working perfectly with Visio
2002, but failing to show the graphics if using Visio 2003. (a large gray
background with a thin strap in the middle will be shown instead.)

Any clues of what may go wrong? It was a bit scary at the beginning as I
thought we'd be in trouble of supporting Visio 2003. However, now I believe
it might not be a manageable compatibility problem as during the detailed
debugging, it was found that a couple of the drawing objects dragged/dropped
from their masters do draw themselves well, without being used together with
the others. But when looking into their shapesheet to compare differences
among the masters, there seems none! It's quite puzzling. Hope you may
provide some clues for me.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

I'm not sure I follow this scenario. Are you seeing a difference in the
appearance of the icons for masters as seen in the Document Stencil??

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

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

 

[Mike Z]

Hi Mark,

No difference if manually dragging/dropping the masters to the drawing
surface, which our software also supports using the DoDragDrop() function.
However, most of the icons get messed up if using Visio's Drop() function to
drop these masters to the drawing.

It looks like that Dorp() function in Visio 2003 behaves different from that
in Visio 2002, either not compatible or not as robust. I'm currently still
struggling with this issue.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

I'm sorry I don't follow your scenario. When you programmatically drop a
master on a drawing, the icons of shapes in the Shapes window get messed up?

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

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

 

[Mike Z]

That's correct, Mark.

When I use the function call ipShape = m_ipPage->Drop( ipMaster, ix, iy),
the shape was messed up in the drawing, flooded with a big gray image and
with a tiny light strap in the middle of the image. This hasn't been a
problem in Visio 2002, but only with Visio 2003.

Thank you,

Mike

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

I think this is a side effect of working with the Business Process diagram
shapes. Are there specific masters you work with? My guess is that the
master has a gradient fill applied to it. When a master is added to a
stencil or Document Stencil, Visio generates an icon for that shape from the
actual geometry and formatting. Unfortunately, Visio icons are restricted
to 16 colors and 32x32 pixels. Gradients look terrible, ending up as two or
three large color bands.

You should be able to repro this in either Visio 2002 or Visio 2003 using a
master with a gradient fill. You can also control this by unchecking the
"Generate icon from shape data" property in the Master Properties dialog.
This preserves the original icon if there was one.

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

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

 

[Mike Z]

Hello Mark,

I guess I've misled you about the problem I've run into.

It is not the Icon of a master that has the problem. It is the Shape, which
is dropped to the page, that has the drawing problem.

I believe the engineer(s) who modified the page's "Drop" function might know
the details of what has been changed inside the function. You know Mark, MS
Visio has done great job in applying and enriching Microsoft's OLE/COM
technology. This is why Visio's interfaces and methods in these interfaces
just work as before. That's the whole point of reusability that OLE/COM has
been selling at. However, at the same time, the effects of using these same
interfaces/functions should be identical, too. It looks like someone has
changed something inside the function m_ipPage->Drop(...), without being
aware of it might cause compatibility problem between Visio 2002/2003.

It'll be greatly appreciated if you may find an "insider" of the development
team who might know exactly what they've changed in the page's "Drop"
function.

Thanks again,

Mike