Z
Zack Moore [MSFT]
Hi Everyone;
I heard a rumor there may be some confusion of how to start up ShapeStudio
in the Visio 2003 SDK. These comments may help get some folks started. I
apologize if this is repeated information.
ShapeStudio is a Visio Add-On that interacts with Visio and a SQL server to
store shape data. The SQL server can be either a local version of MSDE
running on your own machine or a remote SQL server running on a corporate
network.
To start using ShapeStudio:
1) Identify the location of your SQL server. If you are working alone you
will probably want to use a local copy of MSDE. (A link to this can be found
in the ShapeStudio readme) If you are using a corporate SQL server you will
need to locate the administrator of the server for assistance.
2) Now that you know where the data will be stored you will need to use the
SSAdmin.exe database configuration tool that is located in the ShapeStudio
folder. Use the explorer to browse to the
..\Visio11\SDK\ShapeStudio\SSAdmin.exe. This tool can only be ran from the
console of the computer hosting the SQL server. If you are using MSDE just
run it on your computer. If the database is a remote SQL server, your
server administrator will need to run this application on the console of the
server. (check the ShapeStudio readme for details on SQL server
configuration)
If you just want a quick look... Use MSDE and run SSAdmin.exe locally.
3) SSAdmin.exe: This tool will configure a local database by adding the
appropriate tables and stored procedures. It will also configure an ODBC
connection for ShapeStudio to use to communicate with the ShapeStudio
database. I recommend accepting all of the default values suggested in the
SSAdmin.exe tool and ODBC configuration tools. This will just make life
simpler.
4) If you chose to use a remote server and have ran SSAdmin on that server
you will have to manually configure the ODBC connection to the remote
server. Ask your SQL server administrator for assistance here as they will
need to give you permissions to use the database as well.
5) We are almost there....
a) Start Visio
b) Tools > ShapeStudio (the ShapeStudio data source selection dialog will
appear)
c) Data source = ShapeStudio (if you used the defaults that SSAdmin
suggested) (a remote SQL datasource can be created from here as well)
d) Choose the New ... button to create a new database. The new project
dialog will appear.
Note: In the projects dialog you will see Global [Global Project] listed.
This is the one place you can put things that will appear in all projects.
I would not go there just yet.
e) New Project : From hear you can create many projects to work on. One for
each template for example. For now just accept the defaults and press OK.
This will create a new Visio11 project that uses US units.
f) Select the New Project and press Open.
If all went as planned you will see four framed windows.
The Visio drawing page
The Document Stencil
The ShapeStudio Project Explorer
and a fourth frame that contains
The Specification window
The Validation window
The Output window
This was just enough information to get the system running. Please check
out the Visio menu option ShapeStudio > Help.
I would like to apologize in advance because I am going to be on vacation
the next few weeks and will not be able to respond to questions. I really
just wanted to get this information out here to get you all started.
I heard a rumor there may be some confusion of how to start up ShapeStudio
in the Visio 2003 SDK. These comments may help get some folks started. I
apologize if this is repeated information.
ShapeStudio is a Visio Add-On that interacts with Visio and a SQL server to
store shape data. The SQL server can be either a local version of MSDE
running on your own machine or a remote SQL server running on a corporate
network.
To start using ShapeStudio:
1) Identify the location of your SQL server. If you are working alone you
will probably want to use a local copy of MSDE. (A link to this can be found
in the ShapeStudio readme) If you are using a corporate SQL server you will
need to locate the administrator of the server for assistance.
2) Now that you know where the data will be stored you will need to use the
SSAdmin.exe database configuration tool that is located in the ShapeStudio
folder. Use the explorer to browse to the
..\Visio11\SDK\ShapeStudio\SSAdmin.exe. This tool can only be ran from the
console of the computer hosting the SQL server. If you are using MSDE just
run it on your computer. If the database is a remote SQL server, your
server administrator will need to run this application on the console of the
server. (check the ShapeStudio readme for details on SQL server
configuration)
If you just want a quick look... Use MSDE and run SSAdmin.exe locally.
3) SSAdmin.exe: This tool will configure a local database by adding the
appropriate tables and stored procedures. It will also configure an ODBC
connection for ShapeStudio to use to communicate with the ShapeStudio
database. I recommend accepting all of the default values suggested in the
SSAdmin.exe tool and ODBC configuration tools. This will just make life
simpler.
4) If you chose to use a remote server and have ran SSAdmin on that server
you will have to manually configure the ODBC connection to the remote
server. Ask your SQL server administrator for assistance here as they will
need to give you permissions to use the database as well.
5) We are almost there....
a) Start Visio
b) Tools > ShapeStudio (the ShapeStudio data source selection dialog will
appear)
c) Data source = ShapeStudio (if you used the defaults that SSAdmin
suggested) (a remote SQL datasource can be created from here as well)
d) Choose the New ... button to create a new database. The new project
dialog will appear.
Note: In the projects dialog you will see Global [Global Project] listed.
This is the one place you can put things that will appear in all projects.
I would not go there just yet.
e) New Project : From hear you can create many projects to work on. One for
each template for example. For now just accept the defaults and press OK.
This will create a new Visio11 project that uses US units.
f) Select the New Project and press Open.
If all went as planned you will see four framed windows.
The Visio drawing page
The Document Stencil
The ShapeStudio Project Explorer
and a fourth frame that contains
The Specification window
The Validation window
The Output window
This was just enough information to get the system running. Please check
out the Visio menu option ShapeStudio > Help.
I would like to apologize in advance because I am going to be on vacation
the next few weeks and will not be able to respond to questions. I really
just wanted to get this information out here to get you all started.