Report on connections

[wrmcmahon]

Hello,

I am a strong basic user of Visio (2002), but I have not done anything with
my own macors.

I need to develop a diagram that will contain processes and dependent
relationships between processes (as connections). I hope to create a report
that will show me the processses and their custom properties (I can do this
already) and the relationships. I am also hoping to report on the dependency
in the via the begin and end of the connection.

A simple example would be two processes A and B with B being dependent on A.
I would like to create a diagram with A and B and a dynamic connection
between them beginning at A and ending at B. I would them like a report that
shows each process (and its custom properties), and I would like the report
to also include the relationships. In this example I would like to report
that process B is dependent on A.

I am fine with reporting on the processes, it is the
relationship/dependencies as represented by the connectors that I am having
trouble representing. Can anyone help? I appreciate any advice you might
offer. Thanks.

 

[Philippe C.]

The Connects object :
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa730975.aspx


And Chapter 19 from "Developing Visio Solutions" called Automating
Connections in a Visio solution.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa201779(office.10).aspx

The first thing to know in searching the MSDN on Visio is that it is under
Office and that it starts from Office XP.

I have read the chapter, but I haven't tried it as the connections are nog
straightforwardly simple.

 

[David Parker]

I have always found it frustrating that you cannot find the connected shapes
information by looking at the shapesheet of a connector. Therefore, I often
add this programmatically so that I can use the Reports tool to create a
connections report.
Theoretically, you could use the reports tool to merge two XML outputs,
transformed by an XSLT file into a proper report. Not done it myslef
yet....

The Visio SDK has a Code snippet "Drawing Navigator Using Connections" which
should get you started on reading connections.

 

[Philippe C.]

For the not so experienced :
the code snippet is in the SDK - Microsoft Code Librarian Viewer
and not in the manuals.
No way to Google it.

 

[Al Edlund]

David,
The navigator is a good place to start, but I found the filter too
restricting since I couldn't guarantee that all connections would be created
in the same direction.
I'm working on something similar, but the challange is a little more
daunting when you step back and realize that it is a pathing issue rather
than a discrete link definition. In my case tracking a connection across
multiple cables in a rack scenario. The end-points for the individual links
and the end-points in the path can have a similar schema (point/connector
<=> point/connector, list_of_indices) but in the case of a path it is the
individual links stored as indices. What I've been using as a great source
for some of the building blocks is Michael McMillan's book "Data Structures
and Algorithms Using VisualBasic.NET". Specifically the ability to create
custom collection class's in VBA and the chapters on Graph Theory for
directed searches. I've finished the topology analysis, now it's on to
saving the discrete data to an external data sink.
Al
See you in February

 

[wrmcmahon]

Hello,

I posted once but got an error - I apologize if we end up with two.

I have installed the SDK, looked at the doc and ran the example. All was
very helpful in my understanding of Connects, etc. The problem is that I
think the VB code is more than I need. I think what I need if to get
FromSheet and ToSheet onto a report (along with other info). I ran the
sample code which prints them to the debug window, which was great, but I
really just want it to show up on a regular report.

I think if I can figure out how to add these to the shapesheet I will be one
step closer to getting them on a report. I cannot figure out how to get them
in the shapesheet however. Any further help you can offer will be very much
appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[John Goldsmith]

Hello Bill,

You could add a User cell to each shape (or Master) and then run your
procedure to update this with the connected shape names prior to running
your report.

Take a look at this DVS section on adding Custom Property / User cells:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa201782(office.10).aspx

Best regards

John


John Goldsmith
www.visualSignals.typepad.co.uk
www.visualSignals.co.uk