Microsoft Visio 2010 Business Process Diagramming and Validation

By David J. Parker

In Detail

Microsoft Visio is a diagramming program using vector graphics, which ultimately allows business professionals to explore and communicate complex information more effectively. Through various visual representations, Visio enables complicated data to be presented in a clear, communicative, and data-connected 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 acted upon quickly. This book enables business developers to unleash the full potential of Diagram Validation that Visio 2010 Premium Edition has to offer.

This focused tutorial will enable you to get to grips with Diagram Validation in Visio 2010 Premium Edition to the fullest extent, enabling powerful automatic diagram verification based on custom logic and assuring correct and compliant diagrams. You will learn how to create and publish Rules, and use the ShapeSheet to write formulae. There is a special focus on extending and enhancing the capabilities of Visio 2010 diagram validation, and on features that are not found in the out-of-the-box product, like installing and using a new Rules Tools add-in, complete with source code, reviewing the new diagramming rules in flowchart and BPMN templates, and creating your own enhanced Data Flow Model Diagram template, complete with Validation Rules.

The book begins by covering the basic functions of Visio 2010, and then dives deep into showing you how to formulate your own Validation Rules and understand the Visio Object Model. ShapeSheet functions are explored in detail, as are creating Validation Rule Sets and Rules, and visualizing issues, with practical demonstrations along the way. Other content includes building a Rules Tools add-in using C#, creating test and filter expressions, and publishing Validation Rules for others to use. Finally, the book considers the creation and implementation of a new RuleSet for Data Flow Model Diagrams with a worked example.

By following the practical and immediately deployable examples found in the book, you will successfully learn both how to use the features of Microsoft Visio 2010, and how to extend the functionality provided in the box.

A comprehensive and highly practical Visio 2010 tutorial using Premium Edition, including example code and demonstrations for creating Validation Rules, writing ShapeSheet formulae, and much more

Approach

A focused tutorial, this book provides a range of practical examples with downloadable code, showing you how to create business process diagramming templates with Visio and enabling you to effectively visualize business information. It draws on real business examples and needs, and covers all the new features of Visio 2010 Premium Edition.

Who this book is for

If you are a Microsoft Visio 2010 Premium Edition user or developer who wants to get to grips with both the basic features of Visio 2010 and the new Validation Rules in this edition, then this book is for you. A working knowledge of Microsoft Visio, and optionally .NET for the add-in code, is required, though previous knowledge of business process diagramming is not necessary. More experienced Visio users will gain valuable knowledge for building add-ins and creating and publishing rules. If you want to achieve results from Visio 2010 beyond the ordinary out-of-the-box features, then this book is ideal for you. Although this book covers the Premium Edition, much of the book is still useful if you are a Visio 2010 Standard Edition or Professional Edition user.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Release date: Jul 9, 2010
• ISBN: 9781849680158

David J. Parker

David began his professional life as a qualified building architect in the UK, but found the challenge of linking information to drawings too exciting. He gave up architecture in the late 80s to follow his interest and became a developer and consultant on facilities and cable management software. In 1996, David began to use Visio linked to enterprise databases, and in 1998 started his own data visualization consultancy business, bVisual ltd. His Visio-based solutions have extended to include project management, risk analysis, and process flows, amongst other things. David has been a speaker at several Visio conferences over the years, and has been awarded Most Valued Professional status for his services to the Visio community for the last five years. He writes a regular Visio developer blog, and has previously authored a book about visualizing information with Visio 2007.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Microsoft Visio 2010 Business Process Diagramming and Validation

Credits

Foreword

About the Author

About the Reviewers

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Overview of Process Management in Microsoft Visio 2010

What is new in Visio 2010 for Process Management?

Visio Process Management capabilities

The foundations of structured diagrams

Enhanced process flow templates

The Flowchart templates

New process flow templates

BPMN Diagram template

SharePoint Workflow Designer template

Validation of process diagrams

Visio Process Repository

Visio services

What are the Visio 2010 editions?

Planning your own solutions

Summary

2. Understanding the Microsoft Visio Object Model

The Visio Type libraries

But all I need is the object model

Types of Visio document

Which programming language should you use with Visio?

The Drawing Explorer window

The Visio object model

The Application object

The ActiveDocument and ActivePage objects

The Addons collection

The COMAddIns collection

The CurrentEdition property

The DataFeaturesEnabled property

The Documents collection

The TypelibMinorVersion and Version properties

The Document object

The Advanced Properties object

The DataRecordsets collection

The DocumentSheet object

The ID and Index properties

The FullName and Name properties

The Masters collection

The Pages collection

The ReadOnly property

The Type property

The Validation object

The Master object

The BaseID property

The Hidden property

The ID, Index, and IndexInStencil properties

The Name and NameU properties

The PageSheet object

The Type property

The Page object

The Connects collection

The ID and Index properties

The Layers collection

The PageSheet object

The Reviewer property

The Shapes collection

The Type property

The Shape object

The Characters and Text properties

The Connects and FromConnects collections

The Hyperlinks collection

The ID, Index, NameID, Name, and NameU properties

The IsCallout and IsDataGraphicCallout properties

The LayerCount property

The Master, MasterShape, and RootShape objects

The OneD property

The Parent object

The Type property

The Section object

The Row object

The Cell object

The Column property

The Error property

The Formula and FormulaU properties

The Name and LocalName properties

The Result properties

The Units property

Iterating through cells

Connectivity API

The Shape.ConnectedShapes method

The Shape.GluedShapes method

The Shape.MemberOfContainers property

The Shape.CalloutsAssociated property

Listing the steps in a process flow

Summary

3. Understanding the ShapeSheet™

Where is the ShapeSheet?

What are sections, rows, and cells?

Reading a cell's properties

Can I print out the ShapeSheet settings?

What is a function?

What are the important sections for rules validation?

The User-defined Cells section

What category is a Shape?

What structure type is a Shape?

Is the shape inside a container?

How many shapes are inside a Container shape?

Where is the shape in the List?

How many shapes are in a List shape?

Are there any Callouts attached to a shape?

Which shape is a Callout connected to?

The Shape Data section

The String type

The Fixed List type

The Number type

The Boolean type

The Variable List type

The Date type

The Duration type

The Currency type

The Hyperlinks section

Layer Membership

Summary

4. Understanding the Validation API

Overview of the Validation objects

The Validate method

Can custom rules code be validated?

The ValidationRuleSets collection

How do I add or update a rule set?

The ValidationRules collection

How do I add or update a rule?

How do I know my rule works?

ValidationIssues

Which issue is selected in the Issues window?

How do I toggle the Issues window visibility?

Which issues are caused by a particular shape?

How do I clear issues in code?

How do I validate in code?

How do I retrieve an existing issue in code?

How do I add an issue in code?

Summary

5. Developing a Validation API Interface

The architecture of the tool

ThisAddin class

Listening for application events

Checking for Visio Premium edition

Creating the ViewModel

Creating the BaseViewModel class

Viewing the documents collection

Viewing the ValidationRuleSets collection

Viewing the ValidationRules collection

Viewing the ValidationIssues collection

Modifying the Visio Fluent UI

Creating the Rules Explorer window

Self-describing tree views

Informative tooltips

Linked detail panels

Editing rule set properties

Editing rule properties

Handling special key strokes

The Explorer actions

The Add button

The Add Issue button

The Paste button

The Copy button

The Delete button

Displaying the rule for a selected issue

Displaying the issues for the current selection

Summary

6. Reviewing Validation Rules and Issues

Extensions to our ribbon

Annotating Visio diagrams with issues

Saving the current user settings

Displaying the issue markup page

Add in the issue comments

Hiding the issue markup page

Exporting rule sets to XML

Getting the XDocument object

Getting the VERuleSet XElement

Getting the VEIssue XElement

Importing rule sets from XML

Creating rule set reports

Getting the XSL stylesheet

Summary

7. Creating Validation Rules

Overview of the document validation process

Validation functions

Useful ShapeSheet functions

Filter and Test Expressions

Checking the type of shape

Checking the category of shape

Checking the layer of a shape

Checking if the page contains relevant shapes

Checking for specific cell values

Checking that connectors are connected

Checking that shapes have correct connections

Checking if shapes are outside containers

Custom validation rules in code

Summary

8. Publishing Validation Rules and Diagrams

Overview of the Visio categories and templates

Creating a custom template

Adding embellishments

Adding the template description

The simplest method to provide a template

Editing the file paths for templates

Creating a template preview image

Enhancing the quality of the preview image

The best method for publishing templates

Creating a setup project

Amending the installation package

Running the installation

Summary

9. A Worked Example for Data Flow Model Diagrams

What are Data Flow Diagrams?

Examining the standard template

Enhancing the masters

Editing the Data Flow master

Preparing for AutoConnect

Editing the Data Store master

Adding the Data Store Shape Data

Enhancing the Data Store graphics

Displaying the Data Store ID value

Improving the Data Store group shape

Editing the Interface master

Editing the Process master

Adding the Process Shape Data

Enhancing the Process graphics

Displaying the ID value

Displaying the Category value

Improving the group shape

Setting the sub-process master

Enhancing the page

Writing the rule set

All processes must have at least one data flow in and one data flow out

All processes should modify the incoming data, producing new forms of outgoing data

Each data store must be involved with at least one data flow

Each external entity must be involved with at least one data flow

A data flow must be attached to at least one process

Data flows cannot go directly from one external entity to another external entity: such flows need to go through at least one process

Do not allow a single page of a DFD to get too complex

Each component should be labeled

Each data flow should be labeled describing the data that flows through it

Each component and subcomponent should be numbered

A data flow must be connected between two components

A flow must not cycle back to itself

Completing the template

Creating the installer

Testing the installation

Summary

Index

Microsoft Visio 2010 Business Process Diagramming and Validation

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Microsoft Visio 2010 Business Process Diagramming and Validation

Copyright © 2010 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: July 2010

Production Reference: 1020710

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. 32 Lincoln Road Olton Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.

ISBN 978-1-849680-14-1

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Sandeep Babu (<[e-mail]>)

Credits

Author

David J. Parker

Reviewers

Dr. Stephanie L. Horn

John Marshall

Acquisition Editor

Kerry George

Development Editor

Stephanie Moss

Technical Editor

Vinodhan Nair

Indexer

Rekha Nair

Editorial Team Leader

Gagandeep Singh

Project Team Leader

Lata Basantani

Project Coordinator

Poorvi Nair

Graphics

Nilesh Mohite

Production Coordinators

Kruthika Bangera

Adline Swetha Jesuthas

Cover Work

Kruthika Bangera

Foreword

I met the author through the Visio MVP community — a group of elite Visio experts who actively share their technical expertise with others. David Parker is a long-time Visio MVP, and we first discussed the new Diagram Validation functionality shipped with Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 almost two years before its release. As a Visio MVP, David provides input for new functionality and early feedback on features as they are developed. Diagram Validation was one of the features I worked on for Visio 2010, and David was keen to learn about its functionality.

The Visio team had heard from our customers that they spend a lot of time manually checking diagrams to find even simple problems like shapes without labels and unconnected shapes. Companies were also struggling to ensure that diagrams met certain compliancy requirements or business standards. With Diagram Validation, Visio automatically verifies properties of a diagram and displays diagramming issues. It is then easy to review the issues and fix the problems in the diagram. This automatic detection of diagramming errors is a big time saver and can greatly increase diagram quality.

Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 provides built-in validation support for Basic Flowchart, Cross-Functional Flowchart, Six Sigma, Microsoft SharePoint Workflow, and Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) diagrams. What intrigued David most, though, was the ability for anyone to create custom validation logic — you can specify your own custom diagram requirements, for any type of diagram, and Visio will verify these requirements for you. Moreover, once you have created custom validation logic, you can use it in all your diagrams, share it with others, distribute it within your company, or even sell it as part of a Visio solution. As most diagrams have some logical structure to them, there are many opportunities to create your own custom validation logic and extend the built-in functionality of Diagram Validation.

Although Visio 2010 has just recently been released, David is already an expert in the area of Diagram Validation. He has created new validation logic for several different diagram types, created a tool to work with validation logic in Visio, and written articles about Diagram Validation. Outside of the Visio team itself, David is probably most versed in this area of Visio 2010. It was not surprising then that David chose this area for his new book. This is David Parker’s second book — he is also the author of Visualizing Information with Microsoft Office Visio 2007.

As a technical reviewer for this book, I had a chance to read the book from cover to cover. As I read, there were a couple of key things that impressed me about its contents. First, this is more than a book about Diagram Validation; it also introduces Visio users to an assortment of new Visio 2010 features. Second, it presents a nice balance between the Visio Object Model and the Visio ShapeSheet. These two powerful tools combine to provide a unique development experience within Visio. Finally, the book provides coded examples, and even a chapter devoted to a worked example. These clear, well thought out examples are great for those who want to experiment in Visio as they read the book.

David begins this book with an overview of process management in Visio 2010. Diagram Validation is one of many features developed for business process users. In fact, business process management is a cornerstone of Microsoft Visio Premium 2010. The Visio team spent a lot of time reflecting on how we could best enhance the experience for our business process users—we added new diagram types like BPMN and SharePoint workflow, redesigned our Cross-Functionality Flowchart (CFF) support to make it easier to use, and created new support for concepts like sub-processes and Diagram Validation. Readers of this book will be introduced to a breadth of new Visio 2010 functionality, thanks to David’s considerable knowledge of Visio 2010.

David next devotes a chapter each to the Visio Object Model and the Visio ShapeSheet. Microsoft Visio is unique as a diagramming application, because of the joint power of the Visio Object Model and Visio shapes. Beginners to Visio are often surprised by the amount of data and behavioral logic that can be specified on a shape, through the ShapeSheet. For example, the way a shape interacts with other shapes and the drawing page and the way users can interact with the shape are often implemented by formulas entered in the ShapeSheet. David is well aware of the balance between creating smart shapes and writing solution code.

A similar balance exists between the Visio ShapeSheet and validation logic—the validation logic can often be made simpler if the data or logic specified on shapes is slightly more complex. Unless you write code to specify your diagram requirements, this realization is fundamental to writing validation logic for your requirements. Appropriately, the worked example for data flow model diagrams at the end of the book shows how the shape properties specified in the ShapeSheet can be leveraged when writing validation logic.

Having written a significant amount of the validation logic shipped with Visio 2010, I am familiar with the learning curve associated with writing validation logic. It was daunting, at first to ponder expressing the validation logic to check the visual correctness of a diagram based on the diagramming rules specified in the BPMN standard. Perhaps surprisingly, this task turned out to be rather straightforward—Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 shipped this BPMN validation logic and it is also written out in this book’s appendix.

To write even very complex validation logic, it is simply a matter of clearly understanding the fundamentals of Diagram Validation. This book presents these fundamentals and, through examples, shows you how to create custom validation logic. David enjoyed the challenge of writing complex diagram requirements as validation logic, and the satisfaction of having these requirements forevermore verified automatically and I hope you have a similar experience with Diagram Validation. It is very rewarding to have the ability to express diagram requirements to meet your needs, and to know these requirements will be automatically verified by Microsoft Visio Premium 2010.

Dr. Stephanie L. Horn

VISIO MVP Coordinator and Program Manager on the Visio development team

About the Author

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

In ‘96 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 started his own Visio-based consultancy and development business, bVisual ltd (http://www.bvisual.net), applying analysis, synthesis, and design to various graphical information solutions.

He has presented Visio solution provider courses for Microsoft EMEA, adding personal anecdotes and previous mistakes hoping that all can learn from them.

He wrote his first book, Visualizing Information with Microsoft Office Visio 2007 (http://www.visualizinginformation.com), to spread the word about data-linked diagrams in business, and is currently writing his second book, which is about creating custom rules for validating structured diagrams in Visio 2010.

David wrote WBS Modeler for Microsoft, which integrates Visio and Project, and many other Visio solutions for various vertical markets.

David has been regularly awarded Most Valued Professional status for his Visio community work over the years, and maintains a Visio blog at http://bvisual.spaces.live.com.

Based near to Microsoft UK in Reading, he still sees the need for Visio evangelism throughout the business and development community.

I would like to thank the Microsoft Visio for continuing to develop such a great application, and in particular, Stephanie Horn for agreeing to edit this book. Similarly, I would like to thank my fellow Visio MVP, John Marshall, for his help and encouragement. Most of all, I would like to thank my wife, Beena, for allowing me to write another book!

About the Reviewers

Dr. Stephanie L. Horn is a Program Manager on the Visio team at Microsoft and coordinated the Diagram Validation feature introduced in Microsoft Visio 2010. She is also responsible for the programmability aspects of Visio and is the coordinator for the Visio MVPs—a small group of recognized Visio community leaders that includes the author, David Parker. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto.

John Marshall apprenticed as a Civil Engineer and early on learned the power of computers. Many of the tedious tasks that were routine in Civil Engineering could be automated and done in less time with better accuracy.

After university, he switched to OS development on mainframes