Shape Sheet Management Best Practices

[SteveM]

Managing Shape Sheet information is really tedious. I sort of asked
this before.

Are there any "best practices" documented that somebody here can point
me to for populating and editing Shape Sheet cells?

Are there any add-ins for more efficient Shape Sheet cell management?

Thanks Much,

SteveM

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

I assume you are talking about designing shapes. If I am doing something
repetitive in the Shapesheet, I often will write a little VBA script to
assist.

Perhaps some of our partners that have utilities for working in the
Shapesheet can post as well.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

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

 

[SteveM]

I assume you are talking about designing shapes. If I am doing something
repetitive in the Shapesheet, I often will write a little VBA script to
assist.

Perhaps some of our partners that have utilities for working in the
Shapesheet can post as well.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

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

Mark,

Thanks for the reply. But I was talking about sheet manipulation in
general. There is only the formula bar for data entry and nothing
like Paste as Link or copying entire rows or dragging a cell to copy
its contents. Really Excel types of manipulation. Yeah, I've thought
about the VB work around, but I'm kind of surprised that the interface
is so limited. So think I must be missing something.

I'm pretty new at Visio, and perhaps just not facile yet. But if
there is guidance or an add-in to reduce the number keystrokes in
manipulation, I'd sure appreciate it.

SteveM

 

[JuneTheSecond]

Does ShapeStudio can reduce such works?

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

No, ShapeStudio is not the answer. Unfortunately, Visio does not have the
convenience features that Excel does for working in the Shapesheet. There
are 3rd party utilities that can help though.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

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

 

[SteveM]

No, ShapeStudio is not the answer. Unfortunately, Visio does not have the
convenience features that Excel does for working in the Shapesheet. There
are 3rd party utilities that can help though.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

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

Mark,

Thanks. Man, you know I've worked with third party programs that
allow you to build out object methods and properties in Excel and then
import that into the parent product. It's hard to imagine that
writing a Visio <=> Excel translator would be that much of a drag for
MS.

Maybe it's a "Schadenfreude" thing with the MS guys.

SteveM

 

[Paul Herber]

Mark,

Thanks. Man, you know I've worked with third party programs that
allow you to build out object methods and properties in Excel and then
import that into the parent product. It's hard to imagine that
writing a Visio <=> Excel translator would be that much of a drag for
MS.

I bet the ratio of Excel to Visio users is a million to one.

 

[SteveM]

I bet the ratio of Excel to Visio users is a million to one.

Paul,

I see what you are saying. But we worked with the portfolio
management software product ProSight a few years ago. And even they
did exactly that. Their interface was tedious and clumsy because of
the web based architecture. ProSight did OK as a business and was
bought by Primavera. But they did it 6 years ago when they were tiny
and I bet you they have less than one tenth the number of Visio
customers. The Shape Sheet interface is just clumsy beyond belief.

SteveM

P.S. And I can't even install ShapeStudio because the ShapeStudio
Database "Wizard" can't see MS SQL Server 2005 Express. And the web
postings tell me that problem was first reported in 2006 and there's
still no definitive answer from MS.

P.P.P.S. I'm a smart guy and I was really excited about this product
when I picked it up a month ago. But the non-stop nit-picking
headaches that cost me many hours a day (all day today with the SQL
business) almost make me want to shit-can the whole thing.

P.P.S. Sigh...

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Well, Paul, since Visio has more than 15 million licensed users (plus
unlicensed), I'm guessing the ratio is not that severe.

However, it may be more useful to determine how large (or small) the Visio
shape developer community is. We do invest in shape development, but in
recent releases we have put most of our energy into adding new Shapesheet
capabilities. We hope to put more resources into improving the shape
development experience going forward.

As always, our partners help fill in the gaps here.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

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

 

[SteveM]

Well, Paul, since Visio has more than 15 million licensed users (plus
unlicensed), I'm guessing the ratio is not that severe.

However, it may be more useful to determine how large (or small) the Visio
shape developer community is. We do invest in shape development, but in
recent releases we have put most of our energy into adding new Shapesheet
capabilities. We hope to put more resources into improving the shape
development experience going forward.

As always, our partners help fill in the gaps here.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

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

On Mar 13, 11:13 pm, "Mark Nelson [MS]" <[email protected]>
wrote:
No, ShapeStudio is not the answer. Unfortunately, Visio does not have
the
convenience features that Excel does for working in the Shapesheet.
There
are 3rd party utilities that can help though.
--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
message

Does ShapeStudio can reduce such works?
--
JuneTheSecond
Now, visual calculation is more visual.
http://www.geocities.jp/visualcalculation/english/index.html
Mark,
Thanks. Man, you know I've worked with third party programs that
allow you to build out object methods and properties in Excel and then
import that into the parent product. It's hard to imagine that
writing a Visio <=> Excel translator would be that much of a drag for
MS.

I bet the ratio of Excel to Visio users is a million to one.

Mark & Paul,

My last rant was because I was frankly exhausted from noodling around
with the SQL problem for an entire day. Sorry I went off half cocked.

I program, but I'm not a programmer or an IT guy. I build decision
management solutions that involve consulting, analysis and some quant
modeling. From a modeling perspective, when you first look at Visio
you immediately see it's potential as a front end for the math that
would occur "behind the curtain". Most likely Excel. At this stage
of its maturity at MS, you'd think that Visio would tightly integrated
into Excel for both shape sheet management as well as a model
interface.

I recently delivered an optimization model that was developed in Excel/
VBA. It used an optimization model management platform/library (MPL/
Optimax) instead of Frontline. The outputs were standard Excel
stuff. But the underlying business problem was optimally assigning
resources to various locations.

A Visio representation with a background map and shape nodes for the
locations that presented allocations using Data Graphics would have
made for a much more compelling story as we adjusted constraints
parametrically in the underlying model. The "wow" potential of Visio
Automation for business modeling like that is pretty substantial I
think.

So I know there's a learning curve here. I just wish Visio's
mechanics more closely matched its potential as a really slick model
management platform.

Appreciate your contributions to this group.

SteveM

P.S. Back to my SQL problem...

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Great scenario, Steve. Even after 16 years on the market and 8 within
Microsoft, Visio still has lots of potential. In the past we would often
create a point solution to provide modeling in one particular scenario. Now
we are much more focused on delivering those capabilities at a platform
level, so that they work in any diagram type or business scenario. The
Visio 2007 data connectivity and visualization features are an example of
that approach. Look for more in the future. Keep in mind though that there
is a lot to do here.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

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

Well, Paul, since Visio has more than 15 million licensed users (plus
unlicensed), I'm guessing the ratio is not that severe.

However, it may be more useful to determine how large (or small) the
Visio
shape developer community is. We do invest in shape development, but in
recent releases we have put most of our energy into adding new Shapesheet
capabilities. We hope to put more resources into improving the shape
development experience going forward.

As always, our partners help fill in the gaps here.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

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

On Mar 13, 11:13 pm, "Mark Nelson [MS]" <[email protected]>
wrote:
No, ShapeStudio is not the answer. Unfortunately, Visio does not
have
the
convenience features that Excel does for working in the Shapesheet.
There
are 3rd party utilities that can help though.

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

message

Does ShapeStudio can reduce such works?
Now, visual calculation is more visual.
http://www.geocities.jp/visualcalculation/english/index.html

Thanks. Man, you know I've worked with third party programs that
allow you to build out object methods and properties in Excel and then
import that into the parent product. It's hard to imagine that
writing a Visio <=> Excel translator would be that much of a drag for
MS.

I bet the ratio of Excel to Visio users is a million to one.

Mark & Paul,

My last rant was because I was frankly exhausted from noodling around
with the SQL problem for an entire day. Sorry I went off half cocked.

I program, but I'm not a programmer or an IT guy. I build decision
management solutions that involve consulting, analysis and some quant
modeling. From a modeling perspective, when you first look at Visio
you immediately see it's potential as a front end for the math that
would occur "behind the curtain". Most likely Excel. At this stage
of its maturity at MS, you'd think that Visio would tightly integrated
into Excel for both shape sheet management as well as a model
interface.

I recently delivered an optimization model that was developed in Excel/
VBA. It used an optimization model management platform/library (MPL/
Optimax) instead of Frontline. The outputs were standard Excel
stuff. But the underlying business problem was optimally assigning
resources to various locations.

A Visio representation with a background map and shape nodes for the
locations that presented allocations using Data Graphics would have
made for a much more compelling story as we adjusted constraints
parametrically in the underlying model. The "wow" potential of Visio
Automation for business modeling like that is pretty substantial I
think.

So I know there's a learning curve here. I just wish Visio's
mechanics more closely matched its potential as a really slick model
management platform.

Appreciate your contributions to this group.

SteveM

P.S. Back to my SQL problem...

 

[Paul Herber]

Paul,

I see what you are saying. But we worked with the portfolio
management software product ProSight a few years ago. And even they
did exactly that. Their interface was tedious and clumsy because of
the web based architecture. ProSight did OK as a business and was
bought by Primavera. But they did it 6 years ago when they were tiny
and I bet you they have less than one tenth the number of Visio
customers. The Shape Sheet interface is just clumsy beyond belief.

I've designed hundreds of shapes using the shapesheet and the standard
Visio menus, I expect others have too.

 

[Paul Herber]

Well, Paul, since Visio has more than 15 million licensed users (plus
unlicensed), I'm guessing the ratio is not that severe.

I pulled a number (sorry, ratio) out of thin air!

We hope to put more resources into improving the shape
development experience going forward.

Oh.