Humans are visual creatures, so it isn t surprising that we want to

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1 Gettig Started with Visio Humas are visual creatures, so it is t surprisig that we wat to visualize our ideas, desigs, ad fial products ad commuicate them graphically. I the past, high-quality presetatios were the work of professioal graphic artists ad illustrators, but with Visio 2007, ayoe ca produce iformative ad attractive diagrams, drawigs, ad models. Visio is so straightforward that you ca use it to capture the fastpaced output of braistormig sessios or the frequet chages made to iitial desigs. At the same time, Visio is powerful eough to develop sophisticated models, ad precise eough to documet the details of existig systems. Visio 2007 jumpstarts your efforts with solutios desiged specifically to produce differet types of diagrams. Visio templates set up your work eviromet with meus of specialized tools, sets of predefied shapes, ad drawig settigs such as page size ad orietatio typical for the type of drawig you wat to create. Visio stecils categorize thousads of predefied symbols by idustry, drawig type, ad applicatio. These Visio SmartShapes have built-i behaviors ad properties to help you quickly assemble drawigs ad collect iformatio. COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Simplicity ad coveiece are key to the power of Visio. To costruct a drawig, you drag ad drop predraw shapes from stecils oto drawig pages. Defiig relatioships betwee shapes has gotte eve easier i Visio 2007 with the itroductio of AutoCoect, which helps you place ad coect ew shapes o drawig pages. Specialized tools help lay out drawigs ad perform typical tasks. The simplicity of itegratig Visio with tools such as Microsoft Office, AutoCAD, ad database maagemet systems makes it easy to maitai drawigs ad documetatio of systems. IN THIS CHAPTER Discoverig features ew to Visio 2007 Learig the basic cocepts behid Visio s power Explorig the Visio iterface 3

2 Part I Uderstadig Visio Fudametals What s New i Visio 2007? Visio 2007 has dramatically simplified coectig shapes, formattig diagrams, ad visualizig data. As always, Visio 2007 icludes several ew templates ad stecils as well as improvemets ad ehacemets to may existig oes. This sectio highlights some of the ew features ad tells you which chapter to read to lear more. NEW FEATURE Look for the New Feature ico throughout this book to discover what s ew ad improved. Productivity Ehacemets Visio ehaces its reputatio for beig quick ad easy with the followig ew or improved features: AutoCoect This brad-ew method for coectig shapes helps you add shapes to drawig pages, coect them to existig shapes, ad alig them i oe step. However, ot all shapes work with AutoCoect, which is the case if you do t see the distictive blue AutoCoect arrows whe you hover the poiter over existig shapes. See Chapter 5 for more o coectig shapes with AutoCoect. Themes Whether you do t have time for facy formattig or ted to wear stripes with checks, the ew Themes feature makes attractive, color-coordiated diagrams icredibly easy. I Visio 2007, the Themes feature offers sets of desiger-coordiated colors that look good together as well as Theme effects for applyig predefied cosistet fills ad borders to the shapes o your diagrams. See Chapter 7 for the details o Themes. Data Lik The ew Data Lik feature simplifies coectig Visio diagrams to data sources, coectig data source fields to Visio shape data fields, ad maagig the data coectios you ve made. I additio, for two-way data liks, the Database Wizard is still available. See Chapter 10 for more iformatio o itegratig Visio drawigs with data sources. Data Graphics Data Graphics ca visualize data associated with shapes i several ways, icludig text callouts, status bars, ad ico sets (for example, to represet status stoplight fashio with red, gree, ad yellow circles). Ulike the extesive shape customizatios required i earlier versios of Visio, Data Graphics provide several pre-defied methods for showig data associated with shapes. However, if you wat to build your ow Data Graphics, that s easy, too. See Chapter 10 for more o workig with Data Graphics. Gettig Started Whe you choose File New Gettig Started, the reorgaized Gettig Started widow provides easy access to templates ad recet documets. The categories for templates have bee simplified so you do t have to sca the list for the category you wat. I the mai area of the widow, you ca choose thumbails of templates you ve used recetly or Visio drawigs you ve opeed recetly. The Recet Documets pae eve shows thumbails of the cotets of your drawigs. I additio, templates appear i multiple categories if they support differet diagrammig tasks. See Chapter 2 for more iformatio o the Gettig Started widow. CAD Itegratio The overall desig of CAD itegratio has t chaged, but the Visio team has ehaced the itegratio i may ways, as discussed i Chapter 29. 4

3 Gettig Started with Visio 1 New ad Improved Templates ad Stecils See Chapter 42 for a guide to all the Visio 2007 templates ad the categories i which you ca fid them. The followig templates ad stecils are ew i Visio 2007: PivotDiagram template This ew template available i Visio Professioal 2007 emulates Excel pivot tables ad helps visualize busiess iformatio from multiple viewpoits. ITIL Diagram template This ew template available i Visio Professioal 2007 icludes a ew ITIL stecil, but also opes stecils from other categories that support the ITIL approach to documetig IT services. Value Stream Map This ew template available i Visio Professioal 2007 helps illustrate process performace, which you ca use to elimiate delays ad waste. Rack Mouted Servers stecil The Detailed Network Diagram template opes this ew stecil, which cotais 16 rack servers draw i the isometric perspective. XML Web Service shape This oe ew shape o the Detailed Network Diagram stecil represets a XML web service. Departmet stecil This ew stecil for the Work Flow Diagram template shows departmets ad people i three-dimesioal shapes that work with the ew Themes feature. Work Flow Objects ad Work Flow Steps stecils These are additioal ew stecils for the Work Flow Diagram template. CROSS-REF To fid other sources for Visio stecils ad templates, refer to Chapter 40. What s Missig i Visio 2007 As much as Visio gives, it also takes away a few thigs i each ew release. Here are some of the items that are o loger available i Visio 2007: The Novell Directory Services template ad its stecils are o loger available. File Search is o loger available o the File meu. The Isert Picture from Scaer or Camera feature is goe. The Gettig Started Tutorial ad Diagram Gallery are o loger available o the Help meu. The New Drawig ad Template Help task paes are o loger available. The Org chart theme feature has bee replaced by the Themes feature. 5

4 Part I Uderstadig Visio Fudametals New Homes for Features i Visio 2007 Microsoft loves to move thigs aroud. Here s how to fid some of your old but relocated favorites: The Color Schemes add-o appears oly whe you right-click the page i a old drawig created i a earlier versio of Visio, because Color Schemes have bee replaced by Themes. Custom Properties Sets, ow called Shape Data Sets, are available oly whe you rightclick the Shape Data widow. The Shared Workspace task pae has bee reamed to Documet Maagemet. Export to Database is available oly by choosig Tools Add-os Visio Extras. Rotate Left, Rotate Right, Flip Vertical, ad Flip Horizotal are available oly o the mai Shape meu. Format Special appears oly if you ru Visio i developer mode. The optio to save the drawig workspace with a Visio documet is available by choosig File Properties. What Visio Is ad Is t Visio ca be may thigs to may people. Applied properly, Visio ca help you produce simple diagrams as well as complex models. However, Visio s far-reachig capabilities ca be cofusig if you do t uderstad how they differ. Eve worse, Visio ca be dowright diabolical if you try to use it for tasks too far afield from what it s desiged for. May drawigs are simple diagrams with some basic coectios ad little or o associated data. For these drawigs, draggig ad droppig shapes ad gluig coectors are about all you eed to kow. If you use the ew AutoCoect feature, you do t eve have to alig shapes after you coect them. The remaiig chapters i Part I, Uderstadig Visio Fudametals, describe the basic tools you eed to diagram with Visio. However, Visio Professioal ca also produce itelliget models ad specialized documetatio for umerous fields, icludig software egieerig, architecture, mechaical ad electrical egieerig, ad busiess process modelig. Templates for these purposes ofte cotai specialized tools. However, the real stars are usually the shapes i the stecils for these templates, which have smart features built-i behaviors ad attributes that fit the shapes to their roles. For example, itersectig walls i buildig plas are smart eough to clea up their overlappig lies. Cubicle shapes might cotai shape data for idetifyig the people who occupy the space for occupacy reports. These features are time-savers whe you kow how to use them but ca make Visio seem to have a mid of its ow whe you do t. Parts III, IV, ad V of this book teach you the is ad outs of more sophisticated Visio solutios. 6

5 Gettig Started with Visio 1 You ca draw precise plas to scale with Visio. Visio Stadard supports oly basic buildig plas, whereas Visio Professioal supports a variety of architectural ad egieerig plas. Noetheless, you ll probably wat the extra power of a CAD applicatio, such as AutoCAD, to desig ad documet large or complex plas. Eve so, Visio ca complemet your CAD applicatio. You ca create shapes faster ad more easily i Visio ad the import them for use i AutoCAD or other CAD applicatios. Team members who do t have access to AutoCAD ca create their drawigs i Visio usig CAD drawigs as a backdrop ad import their work ito AutoCAD if ecessary. Visio also simplifies preparig presetatios for large projects. Uderstadig Visio Cocepts Visio ehaces your drawig ad modelig productivity because so may of its elemets iclude features that icorporate idustry expertise. Most of the time, you do t eve thik about how much Visio does for you because the templates, stecils, ad shapes do just what you would expect. However, some of Visio s specialized capabilities might surprise or eve cofuse you at first. By uderstadig the cocepts that make Visio so powerful, you ca prevet problems ad keep your productivity at a blisterig pace. Usig Templates ad Stecils I the real world, templates are patters you use to build somethig. For example, you could use a stadard desig for a log house to simplify the costructio of your home. I Visio, a template is a special type of Visio drawig file that cotais the tools you eed to produce a specific type of drawig. Each template comprises settigs, stecils, styles, ad sometimes special commads to make your work o a drawig as easy as possible. Whe you create a drawig based o a template, Visio does the followig thigs: Opes stecils with shapes Visio opes stecils that cotai the shapes you eed for the type of drawig you are creatig. Icludes styles Visio provides special formattig styles typical for the curret drawig type. For example, a costructio project created from a floor pla template icludes lie styles typically used to dimesio architectural plas. Automatically displays meus ad toolbars If the template cotais a special meu, Visio adds a etry for the meu to the meu bar. If the template cotais a special toolbar, Visio floats the toolbar i the drawig area. Specifies settigs Visio specifies settigs typical for the type of drawig. For basic block diagrams, Visio uses letter-size paper, portrait orietatio, oe-to-oe scale, ad iches for measuremet uits. For site plas, it specifies a 36" 42" architectural drawig size i ladscape orietatio, a scale of 1 ich to 10 feet, ad measuremet uits of feet ad iches. Displays rulers ad grid To make positioig shapes easy, the rulers ad grid take ito accout the scale ad uits for the drawig. For example, a block diagram shows iches o the rulers with each grid cell equal to oe-quarter ich. Coversely, rulers for a site pla display feet i the rulers with each grid cell equal to 10 feet. 7

6 Part I Uderstadig Visio Fudametals Visio stecils are categorized collectios of shapes. To cotiue the house aalogy, a Visio stecil is like a catalog of cedar logs ad coectig brackets that are available from your local buildig supply store. To build your home, you order the compoets you eed from the store ad assemble them accordig to your house desig. I Visio, you assemble your drawigs by draggig ad droppig shapes from stecils oto your drawig page. What Makes Shapes Smart The Visio philosophy is elegatly simple you costruct drawigs primarily by draggig ad droppig predefied shapes oto drawig pages. Although workig with Visio ca seem like copyig clip art ito a documet, Visio shapes are much more powerful. I fact, Visio calls them SmartShapes because their built-i properties ad behaviors make them seem, well, smart. Shape behaviors help you positio shapes ad coect them appropriately to other shapes. For example, whe you place a door shape i a wall, the door lies up with the wall ad creates a opeig ito a room, as show i Figure 1-1. That same door might cotai shape data to cofigure the shape or idetify it, also show i Figure 1-1. For example, oe door property specifies whether the door is cetered i the wall. Other door properties ca defie a door s dimesios, its catalog umber, or its associated room umber, so you ca produce a schedule of the doors you eed ad where they belog i your buildig. FIGURE 1-1 Shapes iclude behaviors ad properties that make them seem smart. Door shapes ca create opeigs i walls Shape data cofigures ad idetifies shapes 8

7 Gettig Started with Visio 1 CROSS-REF To lear about how to defie properties ad behaviors for shapes, see Chapter 33. I Visio, predraw shapes are called masters, which are stored ad categorized i stecils. Whe you drag ad drop a master from a stecil oto your drawig page, you create a copy, called a istace of that master. Each istace iherits its master s behaviors, so it kows how to act whe you add it to your drawig. It also iherits its master s properties, so you ca assig uique values to a istace. As you ll lear i detail i Chapter 4, shapes have hadles to help you positio, resize, ad coect them to oe aother. Whe you select a shape, Visio marks these features with colored graphics, so you ca drag them to make the chages you wat. Shapes iclude the followig types of hadles: Selectio hadles Red or gree boxes appear whe you select a shape. You ca drag these selectio hadles to resize a shape or attach coectors to them. Coectio poits Blue Xs mark locatios where you ca glue coectors or lies. Rotatio hadle This is a red or gree circle that you ca drag to rotate a shape. Cotrol hadles Yellow diamods appear o some shapes. You ca drag cotrol hadles to modify a shape s appearace for example, to chage the swig o a door. Eccetricity hadles You ca drag these gree circles to chage the shape of a arc. Coectig Shapes Relatioships ofte covey as much iformatio as the elemets they coect. Whether you are showig who reports to a maager i a orgaizatio or defiig the relatioship betwee two database tables, coectios betwee Visio shapes ot oly provide iformatio about a relatioship, but they also help you lay out ad rearrage the shapes o your drawig. CROSS-REF To lear more about coectig shapes, see Chapter 5. What Coectors Do At their simplest, coectors are liear shapes with other shapes attached to each ed. However, coectors have smarts of their ow. Whe you move two coected shapes, the coector betwee them adjusts to maitai that coectio. Likewise, coectors recofigure to keep shapes coected whe you use automatic layout tools i Visio. For example, you ca chage the layout of a orgaizatio chart from horizotal to vertical ad the coectors alter their paths as the employee shapes take up their ew locatios. Coectors have start ad ed poits that defie the directio of the coectio betwee shapes. Which ed you coect to a shape ca make a big differece i behavior. For example, i a database model, the table shape at the start of a coector is the paret, whereas the table at the ed of a coector is the child. Whe you defie a oe-to-may relatioship betwee those coected tables, the oe is associated with the table at the coector s start poit ad the may belogs to the table at the coector s ed poit. 9

8 Part I Uderstadig Visio Fudametals TIP Whe you wat to differetiate the predecessor ad successor for two coected shapes, such as i a data flow diagram or project schedule, make sure you glue the start poit of the coector to the shape you are coectig from ad the ed poit to the shape you are coectig to. Straight versus Dyamic Coectors Straight coectors are straight lies that coect shapes. They legthe, shorte, ad chage their agle to maitai shape coectivity, but they draw straight over shapes that are i their path, as show i Figure 1-2. Dyamic coectors are smarter. They automatically bed, stretch, ad detour aroud shapes istead of overlappig them, as show o the right side of Figure 1-2. They ca also jump over other coectors to make coectios easier to follow o a drawig. By default, dyamic coectors use right agles to bed aroud shapes. You ca chage the path of a rightagled coector by movig ay of its vertices, or add or move segmets of a right-agled coector by draggig a midpoit of a segmet. Curved coectors are dyamic as well. You ca drag their cotrol poits ad eccetricity hadles, to modify the shape of the curve. FIGURE 1-2 You ca coect shapes with straight or dyamic coectors. Dyamic coectors route aroud shapes Straight coectors draw over shapes 10

9 Gettig Started with Visio 1 Usig Glue Similar to glue i real life, Visio glue makes thigs stick together. Visio glue comes i two varieties: shape-to-shape ad poit-to-poit. Shape-to-shape glue, also kow as dyamic glue, builds dyamic coectios betwee shapes. Whe you repositio shapes coected with shape-to-shape glue, the ed poits of the coector move to the closest available coectio poits, as show i Figure 1-3. Poit-to-poit glue, also kow as static glue, keeps the coector ed poits glued to the specific poits you selected o the shapes, also illustrated i Figure 1-3. I additio, you ca combie dyamic ad static glue, gluig a coector to a shape at oe ed ad a specific poit at the other. FIGURE 1-3 Dyamic glue draws the shortest coectors betwee two shapes. Shape-to-shape glue draws the shortest coectios Poit-to-poit glue always coects the poits you select By default, you ca glue to etire shapes, coectio poits, or guides. You ca chage glue settigs to also glue to shape hadles, shape vertices, or ay poit o a shape s geometry. As you draw a coector, a red box appears aroud a shape whe you are coectig to that shape. If you are coectig to a poit, the coectio poit turs red. 11

10 Part I Uderstadig Visio Fudametals Explorig the Visio 2007 Iterface The Visio iterface makes it easy to access the features you use. By default, the Visio eviromet positios meus ad toolbars across the top, the Shapes widow with stecils ad shapes to the left, the task pae to the right, a status bar alog the bottom, ad the drawig widow i the ceter, as show i Figure 1-4. FIGURE 1-4 The Visio eviromet provides coveiet access to tools. Meu bar Shapes widow Toolbars Task pae Drawig widow Meus ad Toolbars Most Visio features appear o oe or more of the pletiful built-i meus or toolbars. I the Visio meu bar, i additio to the meus so familiar to Microsoft Office users, specialized meu etries sometimes appear, which iclude commads specifically for the template you re usig. For example, the Orgaizatio Chart template adds a Orgaizatio Chart etry to the meu bar, which opes a drop-dow meu with commads, such as Arrage Subordiates or Import Orgaizatio Data. However, the fastest route to may tasks is right-clickig somethig o the drawig page or withi the Visio widows to display a shortcut meu. I additio, shortcuts for the most popular 12

11 Gettig Started with Visio 1 commads are available o the Stadard or Formattig toolbars, which appear by default. Some templates iclude specialized toolbars, which float i the drawig widow. You ca easily show or hide a toolbar: To display a toolbar, choose View Toolbars ad choose the toolbar you wat to use. A check mark appears whe the toolbar is displayed. A specialized toolbar appears i the toolbar list whe a drawig of its type is active. To hide a toolbar, choose View Toolbars ad click the checked toolbar that you wat to hide. You ca dock a toolbar alog the top, bottom, or sides of the Visio widow. Whe you dock a toolbar to the left or right, the toolbar hags vertically alog the side. Toolbars are easily maipulated: To repositio a docked toolbar, drag its move hadle to a ew locatio. The move hadle is a series of dots to the left of a horizotal docked toolbar ad alog the top of a vertical docked toolbar. To float a toolbar i the middle of the widow, drag its move hadle to a ew positio. To repositio a floatig toolbar, drag its title bar to a ew locatio. Task Paes The more sophisticated features that you might use for log stretches durig a sessio typically have their ow task paes, such as the ew Themes ad Data Graphics features. Task paes dock o the right side of the scree by default. To show or hide a task pae, choose View Task Pae. You ca also display the task pae by pressig Ctrl+F1. The Visio 2007 Drawig Area The drawig widow, which cotais your active drawig, takes ceter stage i the Visio drawig area. However, you ca display several other widows to facilitate your work. To display oe of these other widows, choose View ad the the widow ame. The Drawig Widow Drawig pages appear i the drawig widow, where you ca add shapes or modify ad format the cotets of your drawig. You ca view differet areas of a page usig the horizotal ad vertical scrollbars. To view aother page, at the bottom of the drawig widow select the tab for that page. A drawig grid ad rulers make it easy to positio ad alig shapes o a page. To display a grid i the drawig widow, choose View Grid. To display rulers, choose View Rulers. The uits that rulers display vary depedig o the type of drawig ad scale you are usig. For example, the rulers for a block diagram use iches, whereas rulers for a site pla use feet. To chage the ruler uits, choose Tools Optios ad select the Uits tab. Click the Chage butto ad, from the Measuremet Uits drop-dow list, choose the uits you wat. 13

12 Part I Uderstadig Visio Fudametals The Shapes Widow You drag ad drop shapes from the stecils i the Shapes widow oto a drawig page. The Shapes widow docks by default o the left, as previously show i Figure 1-4. However, you ca repositio the Shapes widow or eve idividual stecils to suit your eeds. For example, you ca dock the Shapes widow at the top or the bottom of the drawig area to provide more room for pages set to ladscape orietatio. Here are some methods for cofigurig the Shapes widow: NOTE To add aother stecil to the Shapes widow, choose File Shapes, ad choose the category ad the the stecil you wat. To display the shapes for a ope stecil i the Shapes widow, click the stecil s title bar. To resize the Shapes widow, drag the vertical divider betwee the Shapes widow ad the drawig widow to the left or right. To chage the iformatio displayed i the Shapes widow, right-click the Shapes widow title bar ad choose oe of the optios, such as Icos Oly, from the shortcut meu. To chage the iformatio i the Shapes widow, you ca also right-click a stecil title bar, choose View, ad the choose the type of iformatio you wat to see. By default, i the Shapes widow you see the title bars for all ope stecils, but oly the shapes for the active stecil. To view multiple stecils at the same time, you ca Drag a stecil from the Shapes widow ad float it o the scree, as show i Figure 1-5. Drag a stecil to the top or bottom of the Shapes widow to create a secod stecil pae, also show i Figure 1-5. The Drawig Explorer The Drawig Explorer, show i Figure 1-6, offers a hierarchical view of your drawig. You ca use the Drawig Explorer to fid, add, delete, or edit the compoets of your drawig, icludig pages, layers, shapes, masters, styles, ad patters sometimes, more easily tha performig the same task o the drawig page. For example, you ca select ad highlight a shape o a drawig by double-clickig its ame i the Drawig Explorer widow. To display the Drawig Explorer, choose View Drawig Explorer Widow. You ca coserve scree real estate by dockig ad mergig view widows. You ca TIP dock other view widows withi the Shapes widow or merge several widows ito oe. To dock a view widow, such as Pa & Zoom, drag it ito the Shapes widow. To merge view widows, drag oe widow by its title bar ito the ceter of aother widow. To switch betwee merged widows, select the tab for the view you wat. 14

13 Gettig Started with Visio 1 FIGURE 1-5 You ca dock stecils i the Shapes widow or float them o the scree. Multiple stecil paes i the Shapes widow A floatig stecil FIGURE 1-6 You ca exploit the hierarchy of drawig compoets i the Drawig Explorer widow. 15

14 Part I Uderstadig Visio Fudametals The Size & Positio Widow The Size & Positio widow is particularly useful whe you work o scaled drawigs such as buildig plas, where precise measuremets are importat. You ca use the Size & Positio widow to view ad edit a shape s dimesios, positio, or rotatio. CROSS-REF To lear more about how to use the Size & Positio widow, see Chapter 4. The Shape Data Widow The Shape Data widow is the best place to modify the shape data for a umber of shapes. The widow stays ope util you close it ad displays the shape data values for the curretly selected shape. To edit a property i the Shape Data widow, click the property box ad eter or edit a value. CROSS-REF To lear more about shape data, see Chapters 10 ad 34. The ShapeSheet Widow Every aspect of a shape is defied i its ShapeSheet. You ca display the ShapeSheet by choosig Widow Show ShapeSheet. CROSS-REF To lear more about ShapeSheets, see Chapter 34. Summary Visio is a great tool for commuicatig ideas, documetig busiess results, ad modelig systems. Usig drag-ad-drop drawig techiques, ayoe ca produce great-lookig diagrams, drawigs, ad models. This chapter itroduced the ew ad improved features i Visio 2007 ad metioed features that have bee discotiued. You also leared a little about the cocepts that make Visio so powerful. Fially, you leared about the Visio iterface ad the widows you ca use to make your drawig work as simple as possible. 16