New article just posted!

I just posted an article at our forums in the Tips and Tricks category. This is the first in a series of articles for an upcoming TechNet webcast titled "Visio on the Web". The article explains how to create a custom SharePoint Document Library menu item to preview Visio diagrams using the Visio Viewer.

Enjoy the article, and post your comments in this blog entry.

http://www.shapesource.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=897

Here is a nice article from Microsoft on building shapes with ShapeStudio, part of the Visio 2003 SDK.

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=1843004

A new hotfix is available for Office Visio 2003 (Post SP-1).

Here is some information about it:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;890933

Interesting article about the possibility of a Visio server for Office 12:

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1675898,00.asp

I wonder if this will take the form of an Office Web Component, or of a totally different server architecture.

PathViz build 2.0.1103 has been released today. In addition to several bug fixes, this new build now supports Microsoft Visio 2003.

PathViz 2.0 is a molecular and protein interaction diagramming suite for Microsoft Visio. Download a 10 day trial version for Visio 2000/2002/2003:

http://www.shapesource.com/scripts/prodSupport.asp?idProduct=70

Our library of Visio shapes continues to expand with the addition of our Police and Fire NFPA 170 stencil set:

http://www.shapesource.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=111

This stencil set includes all of the symbols from the National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 170 Standard for Fire Safety Symbols. These high-quality vector Visio shapes will provide you with everything you need to create NFPA 170 diagrams.

Preview the shapes and stencils here:

http://www.shapesource.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=111

Hot on the heels of the hugely popular (and freeware) VisiClean 2003, Visimation ShapeSource today released more add-on tools for Microsoft Visio 2003. The new versions feature MSI installation programs, enhanced Visio toolbar support, and numerous improvements.

VisiClone 2003 enables Visio users with modest or advanced skills to more easily make their shapes smarter. This tool copies selected properties, behaviors, geometry, formulas, formatting, etc. from a source shape to one or more target shapes without requiring you to copy/paste into each individual ShapeSheet. Even if you are comfortable working with the ShapeSheet, VisiClone offers dramatic time savings when copying shape characteristics from one to many other shapes. For example, let's say you have a shape with a set of Custom Properties that you want to duplicate in 20 other shapes. Using VisiClone you can do this in a fraction of the time it would take to define the Custom Properties through standard Visio features or the ShapeSheet.

VisiBatchPrint 2003 enables printing of multiple Visio files without requiring each file to be open individually within Visio. It provides a very simple interface for selecting the files and executing the print job.

Search & Replace 2003 replaces multiple shapes with another specified shape. It works much like text search and replace but handles the much more complex conditions related to graphic symbol substitutions. If you ever need to replace many instances of one symbol with another when a design changes, this tool is a significant time saver. For example, it's common to need to replace one type of equipment with another in a floor plan. S&R makes this task much easier.

VisiExam 2003 is a freeware tool for developers and advanced users. After numerous modifications, updates, and customizations to a Visio diagram, many inconsistencies can occur, such as broken cell references, empty ShapeSheet rows and sections, missing cell dependencies, and more. VisiExam will find these inconsistencies and fix them automatically, leaving you with more time for other development tasks.

VisiPad 2003 provides a simple interface to add lengthy rich text entries to shapes in a drawing. It is very useful for attaching additional information to drawing objects such as equipment, furniture, process, etc. Common uses are for specifications, marketing information, links to other sources, images, and more. VisiNotes 2003 is a freeware version of VisiPad that supports only plain text.

All VisiTools are available for free 10 day trial downloads at: New VisiTools 2003

We are proud to announce that VisiClean, one of our classic VisiTools has been released today for Visio 2003.

http://www.shapesource.com/scripts/prodview.asp?idProduct=112

Please visit the link above and download this FREE and incredibly useful tool for Microsoft Visio 2003.

This is the first of our VisiTools to be released for Visio 2003. Several of our other tools are in the final stages of release, and should be available during the next month. We'll announce whenever a new tool is posted to the website.