Microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download. Microsoft Visio 2013 Business Process Diagramming and Validation

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is where Microsoft Visio Professional has made a great advance because it has provided us with the ability to create validation rules for different types of behaviors.

In fact, these new features are worthy of a ribbon tab, the PROCESS tab, that although automatically applied to several drawing templates, is also available for use on any type of diagram. In this chapter, we looked at an overview of the new capabilities and process diagram types in Visio , especially with regard to structured and validated diagrams.

Microsoft Visio provides considerable ease-of-use features to the end user, a rich programming model for the developer, and greater capabilities for document management and sharing than ever before.

In the next chapter we will need to delve deeper into the internal structure of a Visio document and the use of its various APIs, so that you can best understand how to formulate your own rules to represent the business logic that you require.

David J. Parker, being frustrated as an architect in the late 80s trying to match 3D building models with spreadsheets, explored linking Unix, CAD, and SQL databases in the early 90s for facilities and cable management.

In he discovered the ease of linking data to Visio diagrams of personnel and office layouts. He immediately became one of the first Visio business partners in Europe, and was soon invited to present his applications at worldwide Visio conferences. He presents Visio solution providers and Visio Services courses for Microsoft EMEA, adding personal anecdotes and previous mistakes hoping that all can learn by them.

He wrote his first book, Visualizing Information with Microsoft Office Visio , to spread the word about data-linked diagrams in business, and his second book, which is about creating custom rules for validating structured diagrams in Visio , has now been updated and extended for Visio Based near to Microsoft UK in Reading, he still sees the need for Visio evangelism throughout the business and development community, and has been touring many European capitals over the last two years spreading the word of intelligent business diagramming with Visio and SharePoint.

About this book Microsoft Visio is a diagramming program which ultimately allows business professionals to explore and communicate complex information more effectively.

Publication date: November Publisher Packt. Pages ISBN Chapter 1. Overview of Process Management in Microsoft Visio Exploring the new process management features in Visio Easy auto-connection of shapes Aligning and spacing of shapes Insertion and deletion of connected shapes Improved cross-functional flowcharts Subprocesses An infinite page option, so you need not go over the edge of the paper ever again. Commenting a replacement for the old reviewer’s comments Co-authoring. Reviewing Visio Process Management capabilities.

Reviewing the foundations of structured diagramming. Container Management : The ability to add labeled boxes around shapes to visually organize them Callout Management : The ability to associate callouts with shapes to display notes List Management : To provide order to shapes within a container Validation API : The ability to test the business logic of a diagram Connectivity API : The ability to create, remove, or traverse connections easily.

Reviewing the enhanced process flow templates. Looking at the Flowchart templates. Reviewing the new process flow templates. Understanding a Microsoft SharePoint workflow. Validation of process diagrams. Analyzing the structure of a Visio document. Using the Visio Process Repository. Publishing visual data from Visio.

Note Visio has a complex layering system. Understanding the Visio editions. Planning your own solutions. We still have the template and stencil for this but the add-on has not made it through the Microsoft rationalization of Visio add-ons. Therefore, you can now construct DFD models badly without realizing it. We will attempt to remedy this omission in a later chapter by constructing a ruleset that can be used with DFD models.

The Organization Chart solution within Visio is essentially a closed add-on that has been around for many years. It has been given a facelift in Visio , but experience has shown that it can only be enhanced with great care and skill. The Pivot Diagram solution is useful but also lacks an API for developers, thus making customization difficult.

This repository can therefore ensure that a user is editing the most recent version of a process diagram, and enable a user to find out about updates that have been made to processes of interest to them. In addition, administrators can monitor whether diagrams comply with a business’s internal standards, or not, or discover, for example, which processes apply to a specified department.

The Validation status of the diagram is automatically updated in the Process Repository when the diagram is saved back to SharePoint. Microsoft Visio has had, for several versions, a useful Save As Web feature that creates a mini-website, complete with widgets for pan and zoom, Shape Data , and shape reports.

This is quite powerful, but it does require that the native Visio file is republished if any changes are made to the document. This control is installed as default with Microsoft Outlook and later, but is also available as a separate free download from Microsoft.

While this viewer has the advantage that the native file does not need to be hosted on SharePoint with Visio Services, its reach is limited by the choice of browsers available and the willingness to make the native Visio file accessible—this is not always the best strategy.

Therefore, with rendering on the server, any client that accesses the Microsoft SharePoint site will have the ability to view Visio diagrams without having to install anything locally. In addition, Visio introduced commenting on shapes and the ability to co-author. These features are extremely useful for collaboration.

Microsoft Visio introduced the ability to add a data recordset to a diagram and refresh that data so that the diagram could be kept up-to-date, but the Save As Web html pages and the Visio Viewer ActiveX controls are not able to automatically respond to any data changes. Therefore, the diagram can quickly become outdated, thus requiring you to refresh the diagram in Visio, and then to republish it.

Now with Visio Services, that same data recordset can be refreshed by the server, thus providing everyone who views the diagram using the new Visio web part with the latest information. This is extremely nice, but be aware that there are some limitationsfor example, no shapes will be added or deleted in this operation, but data-linked cells will have their formulas updated, which is a big advance from Visio when only linked Shape Data and Data Graphics were updated.

No layer visibility changes will be respected. Still, you no longer have to republish just to refresh the data set! Visio has a complex layering system. Most CAD systems, for example, insist that all diagram elements belong to a single layer. This layer can either be made visible or not, or all elements on a layer can have a specified color. Drawing elements in Visio can belong to none, one, or many layers! Visio Services, however, simply ignores layers. Microsoft has merged the Professional and Premium editions from Visio into the Professional edition in Visio There is still a Standard edition, but there is a flavor of the Professional edition for that is available with certain Office subscriptions.

You need to be aware of the relevant features that are in each of them. In the following matrix, a black dot denotes which features are in which edition:. Although you will need Microsoft Visio Professional Edition to use the Validation capabilities, the Standard edition will be able to review any of the diagrams created. By now, you should be eager to explore the out of the box structured diagram functionality, and perhaps be considering how to create validation rules for your own business.

In doing so, I would advise that you always look to build upon what Visio provides—do not try to replicate it! I believe that trying to create your own Shape Data objects, or your own line routing algorithms, for example, is ultimately a waste of time as they will lead you down some dead-ends, as the routing algorithms are complex and difficult to reproduce. The following three legacy diagram templates have had their functionality reduced because Microsoft has removed the add-ons that they were associated with.

The new templates for these seem ripe for someone to create validation rules for the following:. The following two diagram templates in Visio have their own limitations for automation because, though they have associated add-ons, they do not have a programmers interface:.

One of the frequently asked questions by newbies to Visio occurs when confronted by the multiple diagram categories and types: How is a particular template supposed to be used?

Often, they are directed to the Visio online help for examples of how to create certain types of diagrams but this is not always sufficient because they are really asking for automatic assistance as they create the diagram. What they usually want is in fact a guided diagramming system; they require a system that provides them with some feedback on the way that they are composing a diagram. It is easy to drag-and-drop shapes in Visio, to connect them together, to make a diagram pretty with embellishments, or to add text in a variety of ways.

However, this loosely-created drawing cannot consistently convey any semantic meaning unless it follows generally accepted rules. It is the imposition of rules that turns a pretty picture into a meaningful mesh of semantic symbology.

This is where Microsoft Visio Professional has made a great advance because it has provided us with the ability to create validation rules for different types of behaviors.

In fact, these new features are worthy of a ribbon tab, the PROCESS tab, that although automatically applied to several drawing templates, is also available for use on any type of diagram. In this chapter, we looked at an overview of the new capabilities and process diagram types in Visio , especially with regard to structured and validated diagrams.

Microsoft Visio provides considerable ease-of-use features to the end user, a rich programming model for the developer, and greater capabilities for document management and sharing than ever before.

So, it is important to understand how to handle their values in any rule validation. The following screenshot shows the drop-down list for the Type cell in the ShapeSheet displaying the eight available types: Each type is defined by an enumerator visproptypes, which has the following values: String Fixed list Number Boolean Variable list Date or time Duration Currency [ ]. If your Visio diagrams have been used with Data Link Data to Shapes, then you need to know that this feature will attempt to link the data by matching the text in the Shape Data row’s Label cell with the column header, or the field name of the external data first, and it is case-sensitive.

The older Database Wizard feature does use the row Name to perform its matching. Using the String type String data is just text that has been entered into a Shape Data row. It may have been imported from elsewhere, for example using the Link Data to Shapes feature, or it may just have been entered manually. In either case, if your validation rules are using text values to match, then you may be wise to ensure that the case is consistent by using the LOWER or UPPER functions, which will force the text to be in lowercase or uppercase respectively.

Alternatively, use case sensitivity on the following string matching functions. The Format cell may contain a pattern that modifies the display of the string to be in lowercase or uppercase, but that does not mean that the Value is in these cases. Visio also provides a few functions to get specific parts of a string. You may also need to use LEN string to get the number of characters in a text string. Be aware that there are some solutions that will automatically enter the string values, and there are others that may contain special formulae to retrieve a value.

Function Shape Data row of a shape from the text that has been entered into the Swimlane that it is within. Therefore, the Prop. Value will be “” if the Process shape is not inside a Swimlane shape; otherwise, it will be the value of the text in the container Swimlane shape. Chapter 3 Recent versions of Visio will automatically create a formula in the Value cell that returns the string value at a specific zero-based index in this list.

Format It will return the third item from the semi-colon separated list in the Prop. If you were using rules based on a Fixed List value, it might be better to use the index rather than the string value, since this could be mistyped or even translated into a different language.

Format [ ]. The following screenshot shows that the Define Shape Data dialog provides a drop-down list of the most popular formats for numbers, and the formula is stored in the Format cell: However, Visio also provides some functions to enable rounding and calculations.

Chapter 3 You can get the maximum or minimum value of a series of values with MAX number1,number2, Visio actually stores TRUE as 1 internally but some other programming languages use -1, so you may need to use the ABS function to get the absolute value, depending on your circumstances. The following screenshot also shows that the Shape Data window automatically provides a drop-down list for Boolean types: [ ].

As can be seen in the following example, this even means that the same word can be repeated in the list if the case is different. Also, the list is only extended for this particular shape instance; other process shapes in the diagram Variable List type will have their own variable list. So, a variable list may seem like a flexible feature for the user, but it is a nightmare for data validation; the resultant text value should be treated just like the String type.

This will avoid any problems with the optional positioning of day and months in a date string. There are a number of functions that enable you to get to specific integer parts of a date time value. For example, you may want to verify that Prop. EndDate is greater than the Prop. StartDate plus the Prop. Duration [ ]. Similarly, you could test if Prop. You can use any of the duration units in such formulae. Using the Duration type Visio can store duration values expressed as elapsed day ed.

They are all stored internally as days and fractions of days. The following screenshot demonstrates calculating the duration between the Prop. StartDate and Prop.

The following screenshot shows the Prop. Generally, you would treat Currency in a similar manner to the Number type described earlier. Looking at the Hyperlinks section A shape in Visio can have multiple hyperlinks but one row has a reserved name, Hyperlink. The following screenshot shows that a row in the Hyperlinks section, which has a value in either the Address or SubAddresss column, will be a menu item on the right mouse click menu, provided the Invisible column value is FALSE.

There is no function to check directly for the existence of a row; moreover, since the Hyperlinks section is optional, there is no guarantee that the Hyperlink. The INDEX function is used to get the value in a list, and you can pass the name of cells as a string to this function.

Normally when you enter the name of a cell as an argument to a function, it is immediately converted into an object reference, or will return an error if the cell does not exist.

This prevents you from entering formulas with references to non-existent cells. However, the name of a non-existent cell can be entered by name as part of a list as an argument to the INDEX function, which will then try to resolve the name of the cell to obtain the value in that cell.

Of course it will fail to find a value if the cell does not exist and by choosing a cell that can only contain a Boolean value, the ISERR function will return the error result of the attempted conversion to an integer by using the INT function. All that remains is to reverse the error result with the NOT function to change the meaning to verify the existence of a cell.

You cannot easily test a page to check if it is a sub-process, or where it is used in a main process, because a sub-process may be part of many parent processes. The ShapeSheet of the page stores the Layers for that page and, as you can see from the following screenshot, an individual shape’s ShapeSheet merely stores a list of indexes of the page’s Layers.

Layers with the same name may have a different index number on different pages within the same document. Therefore, you cannot create a rule that tests for a layer by index. The layer settings in the page control whether a layer is visible or printable.

You can similarly refer to the ShapeSheet of the document using the TheDoc! Summary In this chapter, we have explored a lot of the ShapeSheet functions that can be used in validation tests, and we have focused on the ShapeSheet sections that are probably most relevant for creating validation rules.

You may have noticed that there are no functions for checking connectivity in this chapter. Well, they are part of the new quasi-shapesheet functions that can only be used with the Validation API, so we will examine those later.

In the next chapter, we will examine the new Validation Rules API and you will understand why it is important to understand both the Visio object model and ShapeSheet functions, if you want to be able to analyze existing rules or create your own.

These rules can help eliminate common errors and enables companies to enforce diagramming standards. A well-structured drawing could then be used to export the encapsulated data and drawn relationships between elements to some external application, if desired. In this chapter we will explore the objects, collections, and methods in the Validation API. An overview of Validation objects The Validation object model is accessed from the Visio Document object.

The Validation object is only available if the code is running in Visio Professional edition, so you should check the edition, as described previously in Chapter 2, Understanding the Microsoft Visio Object Model. The ShowIgnoredIssues property merely dictates whether or not the Issues window displays ignored issues. If the user selects to show ignored issues, they are shown as grayed out, as seen in the following screenshot: [ ].

In fact, an issue can be ignored individually, or by virtue of its rule being marked as ignored. Print, “Total issues”,. Print, “Ignored issues”, ignoredissues Debug. Print, “LastValidatedDate”,. LastValidatedDate Debug. Print, “RuleSets. Print, “ShowIgnoredIssues”,. ShowIgnoredIssues Debug. Print, “Stat”,. Name WorldViewer Data Flow. Count 1 [ ]. The Validate [ruleSet as RuleSet][, flags as visvalidationflags] method has two optional parameters RuleSet to use, and flags to indicate whether the Issues window should be opened.

Validate will check the ruleset, if specified or all enabled rulesets if none are specified , and clear any existing issues before creating any new issues found. The LastValidatedDate will be set so that you can check when a document was validated. Validating custom rules written in code You do not have to add all rules within a ruleset. You can have custom validation code for difficult tasks such as checking cyclic routes in process flows, and then run your code whenever the Validate method is called.

The Document object has a RuleSetValidated event that will fire for every ruleset after validation. Name, Now End Sub It is not worth checking the Validation object for the number of issues until after all rulesets have been processed, because it does not get updated incrementally during Validate.

In general, it is not considered a good coding practice to use WithEvents because it can unintentionally create a very chatty application that wastes processing time raising unnecessary events.

You can then add any issues to the Validation. Issues collection using the ValidationRule. Add “bvisual” You can retrieve a ruleset by its index position in the collection, using ValidationRuleSets. Once you have retrieved a ruleset, you can read its Name this can be edited to be a localized version , NameU, Description displayed as the tool tip in the UI , or check if the RuleSets is enabled for validation.

Document Dim ruleset As Visio. Adding to or updating a ruleset Well, you can always copy a ruleset from another document in the UI, but you can also create a new one in code or update an existing one.

RuleSets collection. You can add a rule using the ValidationRules. AddRule NameU as string method. Note that NameU is really for use in code, since it is the Description property that is displayed in the UI. You can retrieve a rule by its index position in the collection, using ValidationRules. Item index , or by its ID using ValidationRules. ActiveDocument For Each ruleset In doc. You should always set a value for the Category of a rule because the UI can optionally group by Category, which helps the user fix any issues arising.

TargetType can be one of three values of the VisRuleTargets enumerator, which defines the scope of the rule. They are: VisRuleTargets. TargetType of the rule determines which optional arguments should be set.

This is important as it controls the behavior when you select an issue in the Issues window. The Ignored flag can be set in the UI or by the developer in code. If the FilterExpression property returns True then the TestExpression is evaluated, but if it returns False or if there is invalid syntax , then the target is skipped.

The TestExpression property is then evaluated and, if it returns True, then the target is deemed to comply with the rule. If it returns False or if there is invalid syntax , then ValidationIssue is added to the Validation. Issues collection.

Lastly, you can remove a rule from a ruleset with the Rule. Delete method. Adding to or updating a rule Later, we will go into the FilterExpression property and the TestExpression property in great detail but, for now, we are going to create a simple rule that checks that there are no blank pages in our document.

ValidationRule Dim retval As Visio. ValidationRule [ ]. The only exception would be if a document only contains background pages, because rules are not validated for background pages. If we assume that every flowchart shape is on the Flowchart layer, then we could construct a FilterExpression that tests for this. Verifying that a rule works This is not a simple question because you do not get any error syntax checking when you are writing the Filter and Test Expressions for rules.

The FilterExpression has to return True if the page or shape is to be checked against the TestExpression. Therefore, simply toggle the formula in TestExpression between True and False or 1 and 0 , while observing if the expected page or shapes raise an issue or not by validating the document.

This should also return a Boolean value, and should return False in order to raise an issue. Therefore, reverse the logic by wrapping the formula with NOT. This should result in the raising of an issue where there is a match. As we did earlier, reverse the logic, and observe if this causes the expected issues to be alternately raised or not. If there is no change in the issues raised, at either stage when the logic is toggled, then there must be a syntax error in FilterExpression or TestExpression.

You will learn more about writing these expressions in Chapter 7, Creating Validation Rules. Validation rules that target the document are only re-evaluated when the entire document changes. Since this occurs infrequently, there may be cases where an issue that targets the document remains in the document after it has been fixed by the user a user may fix an issue and still see it in the Issues window after a validation is run.

For this reason, Microsoft recommends that you only use validation rules that target the document when you are using a custom solution to manage validation issues. When you manage validation issues in code, you will be able to re-evaluate the validation rule at your discretion. Working with the ValidationIssues collection The ValidationIssues collection stores the issues created by the Validation. It can be reset using the Clear method, which will also zero LastValidatedDate of the parent Validation object.

This technique is used by the Microsoft SharePoint Workflow template in Visio You can enumerate the current issues in a document, and check which rule has been transgressed, using the following code: Public Sub EnumerateIssues Dim issue As Visio.

Print, “ID”, “Ignored”, “Rule. Name”, “TargetShape. Name” For Each issue In doc. Print, issue. NameU TargetPage. Name TargetShape. Compare the previous listings in the table with that seen in the following screenshot: Firstly, you can tell that this is a multi-page document because the Page column is not displayed if there is only one foreground page.

Secondly, you cannot see which shape if any is the target of the issue. The user can see the shape in the page when an issue is selected because Visio automatically selects it. However, it is impossible to see how many issues a particular shape has. You can retrieve an issue by its index position in the collection, using ValidationIssues.

Item index , or by its ID using ValidationIssues. Once you have retrieved an issue, you can access the rule that was broken and, if applicable, the page and shape involved. If you were to write some code to enumerate through the subwindows of the active window, then you can see that there are a number of built-in windows that may or may not be visible: Public Sub EnumerateWindows Dim win As Visio.

Window Debug. Windows Debug. Print, win. Print, “Ignored”,. Ignored Debug. Print, “RuleSet. Print, “Rule. Category Debug. TestExpression Debug. Print, “TargetPageID”,. Print, “TargetPage. Name End If If Not. Print, “TargetShape. ValidationIssue Dim win As Visio. Name Flowchart Rule. ID 3 Rule. FilterExpression Rule. Name Page-1 TargetShape. ID 34 TargetShape.

Name Process. Notice that the Issues window itself, as with all of the add-on windows, does not have a selection changed event. Instead, you must listen to the SelectionChanged event of the parent window, which fires whenever the shape selection changes.

When a user clicks an issue in the Issues window, then all shapes in the drawing window are deselected. If the issue is not a document issue, then the target page is activated in the drawing window; if there is a target shape, then this is selected in the drawing window.

The following code snippet, from the ThisDocument class, is not perfect because it has to listen for the SelectionChanged event of the drawing window object in order to retrieve the selected item in the Issues window, if it is open. This event only fires if the user selects an issue for a different shape or page in the Issues window. It does not detect a change of selection if the user subsequently selects another item in the Issues window that belongs to the same shape or page as the previously selected item.

Listing the issues caused by a particular shape A shape does not have a collection of issues directly associated with it. You will need to retrieve the relevant issues from the Document. Shape Dim issue As Visio. NameU” For Each issue In shp. It assumes that, by default, the rules have not changed. Therefore, if the diagram has not been changed, then it is not necessary to revalidate the shapes against the rules.

So, it may be necessary to force Visio to revalidate by removing all existing issues. Clear End Sub Retrieving an existing issue in code There will be times when you will need to test whether a particular document, page, or shape has already raised an issue for a specific rule. The following getissue method will retrieve an existing issue, if there is one; otherwise it will return Nothing. Shape As Visio. ValidationIssue Dim retval As Visio.

ValidationIssue Dim issue As Visio. One such example could be ensuring that every page in the document is of portrait orientation. This involves iterating through all of the foreground pages in the document to check if the height is greater than the width.

In a real solution, we should probably check that the ratio is correct, too. To do this, we’ll first have to add an empty rule with a macro that utilizes the getruleset and getrule methods created earlier. So, if getissue does indeed return something, then it is first deleted using the ValidationIssue. Delete method, in order to ensure that a new ID is generated when the ValidationRule.

Page Dim issue As Visio. ValidationIssue Dim rule As Visio. These issues will then appear in the Issues window in the UI. Although we have seen how to add issues in code using a custom validation rule, it would be more auditable to write your own rules using the FilterExpression and TestExpression formulae as often as possible. This is because you can expose these rules to public scrutiny more easily, and they can be copied from one ruleset to another, either by copying-and-pasting between the unzipped versions of your Visio documents, before zipping them back up again, or by using the utility introduced in the next chapter.

We have also seen how rules can be validated to create issues automatically and how issues can be created in code as the result of custom validation code. In the next chapter, we are going to start building a Visio VSTO add-in that we can use to analyze existing rules, or create new ones more easily. You are also going to switch from VBA to using C in Visual Studio , so that you can have a proper development tool to use.

The tool will enable you to review and amend existing rules, to create new rules, and to even perform tests on rules. We will create an explorer panel that displays a selectable tree view of the open rulesets, and an editable panel to display the detail of the ruleset or rule selected in the tree view. Don’t worry if you are not a C coder, because the completed tool is available from the companion website However, we will go through the development of this tool in this chapter because it introduces you to using C , rather than VBA that we used in the previous chapters.

This chapter will also describe how to use this tool, so it should be worth reading through, even if you are not a C coder. This will make deployment simple using ClickOnce, because once it has been installed it will periodically check to see if there is an updated version available.

We have called the project ValidationExplorer2; it will be extended in later chapters to provide enhanced capabilities. We are using Windows Presentation Foundation WPF to create the UI elements wherever possible because it has become a popular preference over the last few years.

The effort is worth it, though, because of the superior data-binding and UI element flexibility. However, as this is only a small application and it is hosted inside a COM application, we have not adopted all of its patterns, but we have tried to follow the spirit.

The most important part of this model for m is the binding of the UI elements to views of the data. This is particularly important for XAML-based coding, because XAML can be so verbose that trying to follow programming logic within it is a thankless and almost impossible task. It is far easier to separate the design of the UI, which is described in XAML, from the current state of the interface. For example, we have added IsSelected and IsExpanded properties to the classes bound to the main tree view.

These properties are merely bound both ways to the state of the interface. This means that the code can set the values of the object properties, and the UI will respond automatically. There is no need to iterate through the tree view nodes in the UI, or indeed to find the tree view node by its key to select it. The magic of data binding just does it. Perhaps that is why I like it so much! The Visio add-in template will create the ThisAddin class automatically because this is the main hook into your project when the host application starts.

The Solution window shows the top-level structure of the solution files and folders: [ ]. The business logic or view model layer consists of classes and collections that can be bound to the UI, and are created in the ViewModel folder. OK, MessageBoxImage. ToBoolean Globals. Show “Event are currently disabled, this add-in requires events to be enabled.

OKCancel, [ ]. Information, MessageBoxResult. The SelectionChanged event will only fire when an issue pertaining to a different shape or page from the previous one is selected.

Unfortunately, there is no selection changed event for the Issues window. If you want an even more efficient method for handling events in Visio, then check out the AddAvise method. Never use the WithEvents keyword that is available in VB. We prefixed these wrapper classes with VE for ValidationExplorer, which is the project name.

The next screenshot shows the files in the ViewModel folder in the Solution window: When you select a folder in the Solution Explorer, then select Project, Add Class and so on, Visual Studio will automatically insert the folder name to the namespace of the class. As the Visio objects are COM objects, you cannot bind directly to them successfully because XAML really needs to bind to dependency objects that can notify the UI of any changes that take place.

INotifyPropertyChanged interface; this will notify the client when property values are changed. All of my wrapper object classes implement this base class. The wrapper collections implement the System. The class diagram from Visual Studio shows how all of the view model classes are related: [ ]. It is this that ensures that the data-bound UI is kept automatically synchronized. Viewing the documents collection We created the VEApplication class to be the top level of our mirror hierarchy.

Document doc in visioapplication. ID ; ved. The VEDocument class contains the properties and methods for controlling the extra forms in the add-in, and we have surfaced the methods for adding, copying, pasting, and deleting rulesets, rules, and issues because this is the entry point to these collections. ValidationRuleSets and Visio. ValidationRuleSet respectively, which means that all of the properties and methods for them are available to the developer.

However, special attention must be paid to ensuring that the notifiable properties are updated whenever the underlying properties are changed. Similarly, it is necessary to create custom methods to add and delete objects from the collections so that the observable collections are kept synchronized. ValidationRules and Visio. ValidationRule respectively, which means that all of their properties and methods are available to the developer.

GetDefaultView this ;. These objects need to be created when the document is first opened and then re-created whenever the document is validated. We will describe how this is used later in this chapter. It’s easy to get left behind early on as this book is presented.

Probably one of the worst books I’ve selected. No value added to Visio, nor to business diagramming. David Parker is one of the top Visio experts in the world. His latest book reflects his deep understanding of the history, features, and capabilities of Visio. For Business Process Mapping, he covers areas that a typical end-user would need and he also dives deep into advanced techniques for manipulating graphics and assigning rules.

One of the really nice things about this book is how the author looks at previous versions of Visio to analyze how the new features have evolved over time. David also covers how to publish to Microsoft SharePoint and maintain updates effectively.

Although I don’t typically use this myself, I was impressed by how well he explains it. David has spent years connecting data to Visio diagrams and he displays that knowledge in every aspect of the book. If all you need is passive diagrams of your processes with lines and “clipart”, then this book may not be for you. However, if you want to use Visio for creating valuable and super productive data connected diagrams, there is no better source of information than David Parker who has several books on the topic.

If an MVP decides to write a book about not just Visio in general, but a very specific function area of Visio then this needs special attention. The name of the book “Business Process Diagramming AND Validation” doesnt describe really the value of the book – since this is the most precise and extensive description of the Validation engine and related functionalities contained within Visio So the book referrs to process diagramming however the Validation engine can be used for any structured diagram type in Visio – and this book documents all possiblities and techniques to make use of it.

Also the additional Tools deliver what is needed to make a general-purpose use of the Validation in Visio. If you leave aside the fact that this is the ‘only’ book on the subject, this is still a great book about Validation in Visio. David’s new edition of this book is packed, as usual, with pragmatic advice and practical code samples. It’s not simply a theoretical book, but a really usable guide that will have you putting validation to work in your own process diagrams straight away.

 
 

Microsoft Visio Business Process Diagramming and Validation – Programmer Books.Video: BPMN Diagramming Basics – Microsoft Support

 

Microsoft Visio is a diagramming program which ultimately allows business professionals to explore and communicate complex information more effectively. Through easy-to-understand visual representations, Visio enables you to present complicated data in a clear and communicative way.

Therefore, productivity is increased by utilizing the wide variety of diagrams that can convey information at a glance as data can be understood and bsuiness upon quickly. This book enables business developers читать статью unleash downloac full potential of Visio Professional Edition.

Microsoft Visio Business Process Diagramming and Validation это adobe illustrator cc 2018 ita download free download идея a focused tutorial with a range of practical examples and downloadable code that shows you how to create business process diagramming templates with Visio, enabling you to effectively visualize business information.

It draws on real business examples and needs and covers all diagrsmming new features of Visio Professional Edition. This focused tutorial will enable you to get to grips with diagram validation in Visio Professional Edition to the fullest extent, enabling you to perform powerful automatic aand verification based on custom logic and assuring correct and compliant diagrams.

You will learn how to create and publish rules and how to use the ShapeSheet to write formulae. There is also a special focus on extending and enhancing the capabilities of Visio ans validation and on features that are not found in the out-of-the-box product, like installing http://replace.me/27726.txt using the new Rules Tools add-on complete with source code, reviewing the new diagramming rules in flowcharts and BPMN templates, and creating your own enhanced Data Flow Model Diagram template complete with validation rules.

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Notify me of new posts by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Programmer Books. Random Books. Book Description: Microsoft Visio is a diagramming program which ultimately allows business professionals to explore and diagrmaming complex information more effectively.

What you will learn from this book Master new Visio features supporting structured diagrams and validation Learn about new validation functions including how to create and modify validation rules to verify diagram correctness Successfully implement validatioj content for Visio Publish как сообщается здесь Visio templates that enforce company diagramming standards Build a Visio add-on microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download increased ease when creating rules or analyzing microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download rules Use the provided Rules Tools add-on to export validation rules to XML View diagrams with corresponding issues using annotations Integrate validated diagrams with SharePoint and Office Articulate Storyline Essentials.

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Microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download

 

Click here to Download. Although this officially added diagram types to the standard, it did not add more BPMN templates in Visio Instead, Microsoft actually simplified the number of stencils and shapes for BPMN in Visiowhile increasing adobe dreamweaver cc x64 mpt exe free capability. A standard Business Process Нажмите чтобы увидеть больше Notation BPMN will provide businesses with the capability одолеет sketchup pro 2016 free download with crack 64 bit free download ваша understanding their internal business procedures in a graphical notation and will give organizations the ability to communicate these procedures in a standard manner.

Furthermore, the graphical notation will facilitate the understanding of the performance collaborations and business transactions between the organizations. This will ensure that businesses will understand themselves and participants in their business and will enable organizations to adjust to new internal and B2B business circumstances quickly.

Having been involved in the creation of two other BPMN solutions based on earlier versions of Visio, I believe that the native support of BPMN is a very important development for Microsoft, because it is obviously a very popular methodology for the description of an interchange of business processes. The BMPN template in Visio contained five docked stencils, each of them containing a logical set of shapes, but for Visio these have been reduced to just one, BPMN Downloadd Shapesas seen on ошибаетесь.

garena free download for windows 10 поводу left of the following screenshot. The other stencils are still there, but hidden by default. Some shapes can also be edited using the right mouse menu. In microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download preceding screenshot, a Task shape is selected, revealing that there are many mucrosoft that can be set.

In reality, any of these Task shapes can be changed into downolad Collapsed SubProcess shape, and each of the Event shapes into any of the other Event shapes, by amending the Shape Data. Thus, the original name of the Master shape procss really immaterial, since it http://replace.me/25032.txt the Shape Data that determine how it should be understood.

Microsoft Visio also includes a template and shapes for designing workflows that can be developed in tandem with Microsoft SharePoint Designer. However, Visio Professional and SharePoint Designer become complementary design surfaces that you can seamlessly switch between, if you have them both installed on your desktop.

Validation ensures that the diagram is compliant with the required business logic by checking that it is properly constructed. Therefore, you need to be able to verify that the ruleset being used is the one that your business requires. Visio will not provide 2031 feedback at the moment that you transgress a rule.

However, it will check your diagram against a ruleset only when annd select Check Diagram. It will then provide you with feedback on why any given rule has been broken.

The following example of a BPMN diagram has some errors in it they would be difficult to spot if it were not for the Issues window that lists them, because the diagram has been validated.

In this second group, the first button, Check Diagramvalidates the whole document against the selected ruleset s. You can have more than one ruleset in a document that can be enabled or fere as required. The microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download menu on the Check Diagram button shown in the following screenshot enables you to select which Rules to Checkand also to Import Rules From another open 20013 document. Inside the zip file, you will find a visio folder, and inside that is a validation.

Simply vlsio on the xml file will open it in the associated program, which in my case is Internet Explorer. If we expand a RuleSets microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download, and one of the Rule sub-branches, then we can see how a rule is defined, as shown in the following screenshot:.

Later, we will be going into these definitions in much greater detail but, for now, notice that the RuleFilter and RuleTest elements contain formulae microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download precisely define what constitutes the particular rule.

Now micrksoft we can see that a Rule has an IDand belongs to a RuleSet that also has an IDwe can begin to understand how an issue can be associated with a shape. We will use the new Validation API to explore these RuleSetsRules, and Issues in later chapters, and we will expose them to scrutiny so that your business can downloae satisfied that you have modeled the business logic correctly.

It provides a microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download to share and collaborate on process diagrams, and for reviewers to add comments. The repository has built-in file access control and version control — users can view the process diagram simultaneously and edit the diagram without corrupting the original. This repository can therefore ensure that a user is editing the most recent version of a process diagram, and enable a user to find out about updates that have been made to processes of interest to them.

The Validation status of the diagram is automatically updated in the Process Repository when the diagram is saved back to SharePoint. Microsoft Visio has had, for several versions, a useful Save As Web feature that creates a mini-website, complete with widgets for pan and zoom, Shape Dataand shape reports. This is quite powerful, but it does require that the native Visio file is republished if any changes are made to the document.

This control is installed as default with Microsoft Outlook and later, but is also available as a separate free download from Microsoft. While this viewer has the advantage that the native file does not need to be hosted on SharePoint with Visio Services, its reach is limited by the choice of browsers available and the willingness to make the native Visio file accessible—this is not always the best strategy. Therefore, with rendering on the server, any читать статью that accesses the Microsoft SharePoint site will have the ability to view Visio diagrams without having to install anything locally.

In addition, Visio introduced commenting on shapes and the ability to co-author. These features are extremely useful for collaboration. Microsoft Visio introduced the ability to add a data recordset to a diagram and refresh that data so that the diagram could be kept up-to-date, but the Save As Microsodt html pages and the Visio Viewer ActiveX controls are not able to automatically respond to any data changes.

Therefore, the diagram can quickly become outdated, thus requiring you to refresh the diagram in Visio, and then to republish it. Now with Visio Services, that same data recordset can be refreshed by the microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download, thus providing everyone who views the diagram microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download the diaagramming Visio web part with the latest information.

This is extremely nice, but be aware that there are some limitationsfor example, no shapes will be added or deleted in this operation, but data-linked cells will have their formulas updated, which is a big advance from Visio when only linked Shape Data and Data Graphics were updated.

No layer visibility changes will be respected. Still, you no longer have to republish just to refresh the data set! Visio has a complex layering system. Most CAD systems, for example, insist that all diagram elements belong to a single layer. This layer can either be made visible or not, or all elements on a layer can have a specified color.

Drawing elements in Visio can belong to none, one, or many layers! Visio Services, however, simply ignores layers. Microsoft has merged the Professional and Premium editions from Visio into the Professional edition in Visio There is still a Standard edition, but there is a flavor of the Professional edition for that is available with certain Office subscriptions. You need to validatino aware of the relevant diagramjing that are in each of them. In the following matrix, a black dot denotes which features are in which edition:.

Although you will need Microsoft Visio Professional Edition to use the Validation capabilities, the Standard edition will be able to review any of the diagrams created. By now, you should be eager to explore the out of the box structured diagram functionality, and perhaps be considering how to create validation rules for your own business. In doing so, I would advise that you always look to build upon what Visio provides—do not try to replicate it!

I believe that trying to create your own Shape Data objects, or your own line routing algorithms, for example, is ultimately a waste of time as they will lead you down some dead-ends, as the routing algorithms are complex and difficult to reproduce. The following three legacy diagram templates have had their functionality reduced because Microsoft has removed the add-ons that they were associated with.

The new templates for these seem ripe for someone to create validation rules for the following:. The following two diagram templates in Visio have their own limitations for automation because, though they have associated add-ons, they do not have a programmers interface:.

One of the frequently asked questions by newbies to Visio occurs when confronted by the multiple diagram categories and types: How is a particular template microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download to be used? Often, they are directed to the Visio online help for examples of how to create certain types of diagrams but this is not always sufficient because they are really asking for automatic assistance as they create the diagram.

What they usually want microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download in fact a guided diagramming system; they require a system that provides them with some feedback on the way that they are composing a diagram. It is easy to drag-and-drop shapes in Visio, to connect them together, to make a diagram pretty with embellishments, or to add text in a variety of ways. However, this loosely-created drawing cannot consistently convey any semantic meaning unless it downlload generally accepted rules.

It is the imposition of rules that turns a pretty picture into a meaningful mesh of semantic symbology. This is where Источник статьи Visio Professional has made a great advance because it has provided us with the ability to create validation rules for different types of behaviors. In fact, these new features are worthy of узнать больше ribbon tab, the PROCESS tab, that although automatically applied to several drawing templates, is also available for use on any type of diagram.

In this chapter, we looked at an overview of the new capabilities and process diagram types in Visioespecially with regard to structured and validated diagrams. Microsoft Visio provides considerable ease-of-use features to the end user, a rich valdiation model for the developer, and greater capabilities for document 20133 and sharing than ever odwnload. In the next chapter we will need to delve deeper into the internal structure of a Visio document and the use of its various APIs, so that you can ciagramming understand how to formulate your own rules to represent the business logic that you require.

David J. Parker, being frustrated as an architect in the late 80s trying to match 3D building models with spreadsheets, explored linking Unix, CAD, and SQL databases in the early 90s for facilities and cable management.

In he discovered the ease of linking data to Visio diagrams of personnel and office layouts. He immediately became one of оригинально affinity designer pattern free принимаю first Visio business partners in Europe, and was soon invited to present his applications at worldwide Visio conferences.

He presents Visio validatiln providers and Visio Services courses for Microsoft EMEA, adding personal anecdotes and previous mistakes hoping that all can learn by them. He wrote his annd book, Visualizing Information with Microsoft Office Visioto spread the word about data-linked diagrams in business, and his second book, which is about creating custom rules for validating structured diagrams in Visiohas now been updated and extended for Visio Based near to Microsoft UK in Reading, he still sees the need for Visio evangelism throughout the business and development community, and has been touring адрес страницы European capitals over the last two years spreading the word of intelligent business diagramming with Visio and SharePoint.

About this book Microsoft Visio is a diagramming program which ultimately allows business professionals to explore and communicate complex information more effectively.

Publication date: November Publisher Packt. Pages He immediately became one of the first Visio business partners in Europe, and was soon invited microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download present his applications at worldwide Visio conferences. Thank you to Dr. Most of all, I would like to thank my wife, Beena, for putting up with me as I wrote another book.

Maybe that is why my kids, Kryshnan and Alyesha, have both left home! Nikolay Belykh is a Visio specialist and an active member of Visio society. He works currently as software architect in Process4. The company provides the award-winning modeling tool for business processes based on Microsoft Visio. After his postgraduation studies, he started to work as software engineer in industrial automation, where he first got in touch with Visio.

Now he lives and works in Vienna, Austria. Her coreldraw graphics suite 2018 uninstall free include technology and applications related to data or system visualization with microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download solutions such as Visio, CAD, and so on. She runs Visio adoption center with Microsoft Korea. She as a Visio evangelist has been working with many of the commercial and public sector customers for more than 8 years.

She holds B. S in mechatronics engineering and has vsiio microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download robotics system with virtual reality software. He is a legend of Visio and I have always learned from him through his blog.

Alexander Meijers has been involved with Microsoft products and technologies for more than 20 years. He got introduced with SharePoint and Office since the Version came to the market, and made these products his core knowledge.

With his extended knowledge of programming, he sees a lot of the opportunities the products have. Microsoft visio 2013 business process diagramming and validation free download has been involved to a large extent in SharePoint implementations and a number of Office solutions.