Visio Services Additional Resources

Visio Services Additional Resources

Chris Hopkins Visilog

http://blogs.msdn.com/chhopkin/archive/2009/12/16/visio-services-mashup-api-walk-thru.aspx

Announcing SharePoint 2010 and Visio Services

Using a Visio Process Repository

Introducing Visio Services

Publishing Diagrams to Visio Services

Embedding a Web Drawing in a SharePoint Page

Installing and Configuring Visio Services

Visio Services overview (SharePoint Server 2010)

Plan Visio Services security (SharePoint Server 2010)

Publishing and viewing Visio Solutions

Export Formats Available

The exporting process from Visio is fairly straightforward. One of the more complex parts of this process can be choosing the file format that you want to export to. Granted, in some situations you may know the exact format you need. Other times you may have many formats that will work.

When making the decision for which format to choose, you will need to consider the follow:

• 
  What the ultimate end of the drawing is for (e.g. web publishing)
  
• 
  Other applications downstream and their preferred formats
  
• 
  Need for Vector or Raster information
  

• 
  Visio Formats
  
• 
  CAD Vector Formats
  
• 
  Raster Formats Used With Web
  
• 
  Web Page Solution
  
• 
  Generic Metafile Formats
  
• 
  Generic Bitmap Formats
  
• 
  PDF and XPS Formats
  

Filter Conversion Basics

One crucial concept to understand with file conversion is that there is an inherent possibility for loss of data when converting images from one format to another. Although the loss might not be evident in some conversions, it will likely be evident in others. Where you might notice this greatest is going from a vector based format to other vector based formats, such as to and from CAD formats.

As you recall from other sections in this text, Visio uses a vector-based format. Vector formats define how to draw the image using sets of graphic primitives, lines, polygons, etc. Some formats use graphic entities that may not exist in the other formats at all. As the data gets filtered from one format to another there may not be adequate ways to describe the data in the new format. It is analogous to translating from one language to another, like French to English, where there are words in one language that simply cannot be expressed in the other language.

Converting from vector to raster images also involves some possible loss. Generally the image should look pretty similar to the original image, but there is at a minimum a loss of functionality. The image is now a series of dots, not entities that can be edited.

Common Filter Options

Vector Graphics Filter Settings

• 
  Color Translation - How to map the colors during conversion, i.e. Inverse. Typical setting is Normal.
  
• 
  Line Cap Mode - How should line ends be handled? Device indicates use only line ends supported by the file format and Stroked indicates to try and emulate the line ends.
  

Raster Graphics Settings

• 
  Color Settings
  
• 
  Compression Settings
  

• 
  Rotation
  
• 
  Flip image horizontal and/or vertical
  

• 
  Screen - Current screen resolution. This is the default setting for resolution.
  
• 
  Printer - Current printer resolution
  
• 
  Source - Determined by Visio
  
• 
  Custom - Your own settings
  

• 
  Screen - Size of image as displayed by Visio
  
• 
  Printer - Size image would print based on current resolution and current printer resolution
  
• 
  Source - Determined by Visio based on what size the image is in Visio. This is the default setting for size.
  
• 
  Custom
  

Publish for visualization only

Export to Graphics

• 
  Scalable vector graphics (.svg)
  
• 
  Scalable vector graphics compressed (.svgz)
  
• 
  Autocad drawing (.dwg)
  
• 
  Autocad interchange format (.dxf)
  
• 
  Web Page (.htm, .html)
  
• 
  Web Drawing (.vdw)
  
• 
  Compressed Enhanced Metafile (.emz)
  
• 
  Enhanced Metafile (.emf)
  
• 
  Graphics Interchange Format (.gif)
  
• 
  JPEG Interchange Format (.jpg)
  
• 
  PDF (.pdf)
  
• 
  Portable Network Graphics (.png)
  
• 
  Tag Image File Format (.tif)
  
• 
  Windows Bitmap (.bmp, dib)
  
• 
  Windows Metafile (.wmf)
  
• 
  XPS Document (.xps)
  

How to Export Your Drawing

Exporting your Visio drawing is as simple as choosing File > Save As from the ribbon and changing the selected file type in the Save As dialog. For many of the options available in the Save As Type list, an additional dialog will be presented with specific settings for the file type chosen. We will cover some of these settings further in this section.

You may export the entire Visio drawing page or portions of your drawing. To export a portion of the drawing, select the shapes you want to export and then choose the File > Save As menu option. If nothing is currently selected then the entire drawing page will be exported.

With the exception of the Save as Web Page option, multiple-page Visio drawings will need to be exported page by page.

Save as PDF and Save As XPS

Newly introduced to Visio 2007, is the capability (available via a separate download) to save a Visio drawing into PDF or XPS format. Installing the free download will add the Publish as PDF or XPS option to the File menu. It will also add the PDF and XPS options to the Save As dialog. Without the download installed these options will not be seen from the user interface.

XPS (XML Paper Specification) is a general purpose Microsoft document format, based on the Open Packaging Conventions. These conventions “describe the method for packaging information in a file format, describing metadata, parts, relationships, and the application of digital signatures.”

XPS is natively supported in Microsoft Windows Vista, and supported on other platforms through a free downloadable viewer.

Note:

The XPS viewer can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/downloads.mspx

PDF

The addition of Save as PDF to Office 2007 supports overall themes of content sharing and workflows and supporting complete customer scenarios around content. Office-generated PDF fits into these scenarios in a couple of ways: distribution and sharing, where customers can easily create PDF versions of their Office documents for distributing broadly, either online, via e-mail, or printed, and archiving, where customers can preserve their work for later retrieval and reuse. This fits in well with the overall direction Microsoft has been heading with the Office file formats. It’s why Microsoft decided to move to Open XML formats as the default formats, and it’s what motivated Microsoft to build PDF support directly into the products.

In order to support these scenarios, the goals for PDF generated by Office 2007 are that it: maintains fidelity to the original, is printable, is accessible, is navigable, and supports the PDF features important to the success of these scenarios.

Here is a quick overview of PDF features supported in Office-generated PDF:

To save or publish a drawing in PDF format:

1. 
   Choose File > Save As and then select PDF as the Save as type
   
2. 
   Once the dialog appears the Options button may be chosen for setting various output options
   
3. 
   Select Save.
   

XPS

XPS, or the XML Paper Specification, is Microsoft’s new electronic paper format for exchanging documents in their final forms. This is a Microsoft Office feature that provides a one-way export from Office client applications such as Visio to an application- and platform-independent, paginated format.

Why is this important?

How does this relate to the XPS print driver?

How do I view an XPS document?

More information about XPS is available from the following sources:

• 
  There are a couple of good blogs on MSDN that provide information on the development of XPS and its use in Office 2007
  

• 
  An MSDN article titled “A First Look at APIs for Creating XML Paper Specification Documents”, by Bob Watson. Also note the sidebar with this article called “Three Paths to High Fidelity”.
  

To save or publish a drawing in XPS format:

1. 
   Choose File > Save As and then select XPS as the Save as type
   
2. 
   Once the dialog appears the Options button may be chosen for setting various output options
   
3. 
   Select Save.
   

Lab 2.5: Exporting to other formats

• 
  What are the differences (if any) in creating these two types of output?
  
• 
  Explore the options available for creating PDF and XPS files.
  
• 
  Explore the features of working with PDF and XPS files
  

Exercise: Create PDF and XPS files

1. 
   Create a multi-paged Visio drawing or use one of the sample files. Try orienting some of the pages in different directions or make the page sizes different.
   
2. 
   Save this drawing in PDF output. Open the PDF just created, traverse the drawing pages. Save the drawing again, but this time choose the Options button and choose different options. Open the PDF and note any differences. Search for a text string in the resulting PDF. Is the search case sensitive?
   
3. 
   Save this drawing in XPS output. Open the XPS just created, traverse the drawing pages. Save the drawing again, but this time choose the Options button and choose different options. Open the XPS and note any differences. Search for a text string in the resulting XPS. Is search case sensitive?
   

Publish for visual data

Save as Web Page (HTML)

One special type of export available from Visio is the Save as Web Page option on the File menu. This export varies from the previous export options discussed in a number of ways.

Even though the file extension listed is *.htm, *.html, there are many files generated with this export rather than simply one html file. The html file created references the other files that are generated for the output. By default, there is actually a folder created with a name matching the html file that contains all of the supporting files referenced by the html file. The Save as Web Page is actually a complex solution involving many dialogs and options for inputs and generating many files as the output.

This export uses other filters when generating its output. Since an HTML file is not a graphics file, the image from your Visio drawing must be saved in a graphics file format that can then be displayed on the new web page. The types of graphics files that the Web Page solution can utilize include the common raster formats used on the web, GIF, JPG, PNG, as well as a vector web format called VML. By default, if you are using Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater, the selected format will be VML and a second format, GIF, will be used as well for compatibility of your generated web page with older browsers. Effectively a dynamic web page and multiple graphics files are exported.

Note:

Settings from the graphics filters for GIF, JPG, and PNG are shared with the normal exports for GIF, JPG, and PNG.

This export works on multiple page documents with one export rather than only one page at a time. The generated HTML page can automatically have navigation added to go between exported pages.

This export makes use of XML and some advanced features of web browsers to expose Visio drawing data and multiple hyperlink information with the HTML output file. Data you add to shapes as Shape Data can now be viewed in the web browser as you mouse over a shape. In addition, multiple hyperlinks for each shape may be accessed from the web browser. Clicking on a shape with multiple hyperlinks will bring up a list of the hyperlinks for the shape for individual selection. Note that for older browsers, only the one hyperlink set as the default hyperlink will be visible.

Note:

Choosing File > Save As and then selecting Web Page from the Save as Type list box is the same as selecting File > Save as Web Page. In each case the Save As dialog box is displayed and the Publish button is added in the bottom right portion of the dialog.

Export should generally begin from the Save As dialog by pushing the Publish command button rather than the Save button. The Publish button takes you to the dialogs for setting the options for Web Page solution. The Save button will generate a new web page with the options that were set the last time the Publish command was used.

Save As Web Page Options

When you select the Publish command button you are taken to a dialog box for the Save as Web Page solution. There are two tabs on the dialog box, General, and Advanced.

The General tab allows you to decide which pages will be exported from your Visio drawing. You can select individual pages in a range or the entire document. Also available are a choice of publishing options including:

• 
  Details (shape data)
  
• 
  Go to Page (navigation control)
  
• 
  Search Pages
  
• 
  Pan and Zoom
  

In the Display Options section under the Advanced tab you can choose the screen size, but note that this option only works for the PNG, JPG, and GIF options.

Also in the Display Options of the Advanced tab the Style sheet can be set. The Style sheet controls the color choices of the publishing options chosen on the General tab.


Save as Web Page

Try It! Publish to the Web

1. 
   Create a simple Visio drawing or open one of the sample files. It should have multiple drawing pages. It should also include Shape Data.
   
2. 
   Choose File > Save as Web Page.
   
3. 
   Choose VML as the output format and view the results in the web browser.
   
4. 
   Choose SVG as the output format and view the results in the web browser.
   
5. 
   Choose GIF as the output format, change the target monitor to a different size, and view the results in the web browser.
   
6. 
   Set the Style sheet option and view the results in the web browser.
   

Visio Viewer

Overview

Visio users can freely distribute Visio drawings and diagrams to team members, partners, customers, or others, even if the recipients do not have Visio installed on their computers. The Visio Viewer enables users to discover the advantages of using Visio drawings, charts, and illustrations in a Web-based environment. It is particularly useful for teams that need to collaborate from different locations where not all team members have access to the full functionality of Visio 2010.

System Requirements

• 
  Supported Operating Systems:
  

• 
  Windows 7
  
• 
  Windows Vista
  
• 
  Windows XP
  
• 
  Windows 2003 Server
  
• 
  Windows 2008 Server
  

• 
  Software Requirements:
  

• 
  Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 5.0 or later
  

Note:

Both Visio Binary (.VSD) and XML (.VDX) files are supported, as well as stencils and templates.

Note:

The Visio Viewer is implemented as an ActiveX control that loads and renders Visio drawings inside Internet Explorer or in the Microsoft Office Outlook preview window.

Non Visio users – viewer/previewer

The Visio Previewer in Outlook

What you can do when previewing a drawing

What you cannot do when previewing a drawing

Publish for data only

For example, shape data is stored as text in the .vdx file. It could be read and changed by software using simple text editing techniques.

Note:

Visio supports the UNICODE character set which enables almost all written languages to be represented using a single character set.

Manage Visio files with SharePoint® Technologies

Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) is a product that enables workgroup collaboration. It contains basic capabilities to support file sharing, check-in, and check-out.

Users can access files stored in a WSS library either from the SharePoint site itself or directly through Visio. Accessing files through a SharePoint site provides a team with Check-in and Check-out capability, and the ability to view and edit files. Editing of data can be done with Internet Explorer or directly within Visio. When editing a drawing through the SharePoint site, the user is prompted to save and Check-in changes or discard changes when the drawing is closed.

Using a Visio Process Repository

Below is the home page of an example Process Repository:

As shown in the sidebar above, a Repository site contains a library for documentation, a task list, and a discussion board. But most important is the “Process Diagrams” document library, which is designed to store processes. This document library comes pre-populated with several templates that can be used to create new process diagrams. (However, you can store other diagram types in a Repository; these particular templates are available simply for convenience.)

Let’s say you use the Cross-Functional Flowchart template to create the following diagram in Visio:

Once you’re finished and (optionally) have checked your diagram for errors using the Validation feature, you can save your document back to the Repository through the “Save to SharePoint” billboard in the Backstage:

Then, when you navigate back to your Repository, your process diagram will be listed in the Process Diagrams document library as shown in the image below. Note the two special columns marked by the red rectangles:

• 
  The Keywords column displays the swimlane headings of each cross-functional flowchart in the document library. The diagram above had swimlanes titled “Engineering” and “Management”; these swimlanes are reflected in the document library below, providing useful at-a-glance information on who is involved in the process.
  
• 
  The Category column displays the validation status of each document. This makes it easier for administrators and managers to monitor whether the processes in their Repository conform to their organization’s standards.
  

Since the Process Repository is built on top of SharePoint 2010, you can also take advantage of other SharePoint features. For instance, you can configure workflows, set up automatic email notifications for when documents change, and view revision history for a given document. Also, with Visio Services users can view the processes in their browser in a single click, even if they do not have Visio installed on their computers. For instance, this is what the above cross-functional flowchart looks like when viewed in a browser: