removing shape data

[Derrick]

I have a company map that I have created, and I have been able to
successfully link data from an Access database to the shapes. However, since
people move around and cubicles empty out, I was wondering if there was a way
to revert a shape back to the pre-data import point. What currently happens
is that if a person moves from cubicle A to B, the diagram show the new data
in cubicle B, but it also leaves the same data in cubicle A.
Thanks in advance for the help,
Derrick

 

[Al Edlund]

As a SWAG it sounds like you're pulling an employee record to an office
shape. As a possible solution design the source data for the office shapes
should be in a different recordset than the source for the employees, that
way when your solution updates (moves) the employee, the two office records
get changed (leaves one, enters the other). It's a business logic thing that
visio isn't designed to protect the user from a self inflicted wound.
al

 

[Derrick]

Right now I have two pieces of shape data that get assigned to the shape when
it is created, basically which room in the building it is in, and which
position in the room. So if I'm understanding you correctly, I should
instead assign basically a unique identifier (so instead of Room A, Position
1, it would be Cube 52)?
Thanks again

 

[Al Edlund]

Kinda like that. I don't know what your data source is, but I'd look for two
tables. The first table would be (as an example) a desk/cube sheet with a
unique identifier for each (shape) desk. This table would have a column for
staff person and another for (example) phone. The second table would be your
staff. The first table is linked to the drawing of your floorplan. When you
change the first table to move an employee between locations, it's your
responsibility to remove them from the the first cube row of the table and
add them to the second cube row of the table. That way you keep the process
of updating employees separate from updating your facilites.

al

 

[Derrick]

I changed the database around so now the shape I have on the visio document
only has a unique identifier and one of the tables in the database stores the
"friendly" info (room in the building, location in the room). From there I
have a few other tables that use the unique identifier to link to the shape.
However, I still have the issue where the old data still resides on the shape
even though the database no longer has an entry for it (so the person in the
cube, the computer they are using, etc). I tried using the overwrite link
option, but that doesn't seem to do the trick.
Is there anything else you can think of that could solve this problem or
will I have to go in and clear the data manually after each change to the
database?
Thanks again

 

[Al Edlund]

Under the data menu => refresh data. This should update the datarecordset
that is linked to the shape with the new information. You can check the data
recordsets by using the menu view=>external data.

al

 

[David Parker]

Perhaps you need to have a Person called Vacant, etc?

 

[Al Edlund]

I considered that, and then ran into my referencing rules to a.) no
duplicate names, b.) make sure the name is valid (check another table)
al

 

[Derrick]

Update: I structured the database in such a way that I could essentially use
a "Vacant" user, which I have name NA. This seems to work, though I do get
conflicts when refreshing the data. It's not a problem in this case, and the
workaround seems to solve what I had trouble with. Thanks again to all of
you for your help.