Using Custom Context Menus with VSTO

Context Menu, Right Mouse Action, call them what you want.  When you right click on a Visio shape you are given options that will specifically target that shape.  From a developers point of view, yes you can customize this menu…in a number of different ways.  For this article I want to focus on Defining Actions…


Get the most out of Visio – Web Cast Series

  A series of webcasts on using Visio 2013 are now available.  Visit this link to sign up https://aka.ms/k5xiah   Here are some additional videos demonstrating the new capabilities and features of Visio 2013 – http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/make-the-switch-to-visio-2013-RZ102925050.aspx?CTT=1


Retrieving refreshed page images from Visio Services 2013

Why would you want to retrieve page images from your Visio diagrams via Visio Services?  Visio Services will provide you with an image that you can incorporate into any application; WPF, Windows Phone, Windows 8, Apps for Office, etc. using two simple http requests… First we need to request a specific diagram and page… http://spdev15escrow/_layouts/15/VisioWebAccess/VisioWebAccess.ashx?V=15&T=0&D=&P=-1&F=http%3A%2F%2Fspdev15escrow%2FShared%20Documents%2FPageSamples.vsdx…


Visio 2013 developer documentation released

Today the Visio product team released the developer documentation for Visio 2013. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/fp161226(v=office.15).aspx Under the API section in the above article you will find these five important resources: · Visio 2013 Automation reference · Visio 2013 ShapeSheet reference · Visio 2013 Save As Web reference · Visio 2013 Viewer reference · Visio 2013 File Format…


Does Visio 2013 require SharePoint 2013 to work with Visio Services?

Here is a quick answer to a common question about file format compatibility with Visio Services. In Visio 2013 you can choose to save in a number of different file formats: VSDX This is the new file format for 2013 and is also the new default file format. This format is compatible with Visio Services…


Data connected timelines including a roll up view

It is no secret that Visio provides a template and a set of shape that allow you to easily create very rich and functional timeline diagrams. The shapes are actually designed to be data driven, meaning that the shapes provide data properties or Shape Data fields which not only store data that is entered by…


What lane am I looking at?

When working with a Cross Functional diagram in Visio 2010 you may find yourself zooming in and out to remember which lane you are in.  Another issue is printing out large CFF diagrams across multiple pages. If you are working near the lane headings it is easy to know which lane you are in. But…


Add audio alerts to your SCOM dashboards in Visio Services

In addition to the technique I showed you in my pervious article about adding alerts to your SCOM diagrams, I wanted to show you how to add audio alerts to your Visio Services dashboard as well. The technique that I outlined in the previous article will only work when the diagram is opened in the…


Add audio alerts to your SCOM diagrams

By now you should be aware that we have an add-in for Visio that allows you to connect to System Center Operations Manager data, published here – http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chhopkin/archive/2012/04/03/visio-and-sharepoint-extensions-for-system-center-2012-released.aspx I know several customers that have built diagrams in Visio using this add-in to connect their shapes to SCOM data and then display this diagram using Visio’s…


Using images on your ribbon buttons from a sandboxed solution in SharePoint 2010

Typically when you develop a sandbox solution that contains ribbon customizations you “register” each custom action with a type so that your ribbon customizations show up in the proper location, i.e. when the user is looking at a document library or a calendar.  Here is a shot of my custom tab displayed when the user…