So... unless anyone can tell me there's still a chance that an org chart
can be linked to excel for refreshing then I'm sadly going to have to give
up on this.

"Al Edlund" wrote in message
...
It's not an odbc issue, it's the orgchart application..
al

"merlin" wrote in message
...
I'm very disappointed. I wish all the help files on ODBC pointed out that
you can't use this function for refreshing an org chart. It would have
saves us all a lot of time. I guess the ODBC function is avaiable on the
org chart wizard to allow connection to other databases. There doesn't
seem to be any point in importing an org chart via ODBCdata - might as
well just use the excel file!

I would try 2007 but as I can't use it at work it's of no help to me.

Unless anyone can tell me there's still a chance that an org chart can
be linked to excel for refreshing then I'm sadly going to have to give up
on this.


"Al Edlund" wrote in message
...
Since orgcharts are just another form flowcharts, it's not a stretch for
those with an interest in programming to take the example in the visio
sdk and build their own. The orgchart is essentially an addon to visio
and as such tends to change from version to version. Visio 2007 (and the
rest of the office stuff) is being released later this year and has a
lot of new data driven functionality (including I suspect a revised
orgchart to play with).
al

"merlin" wrote in message
...
There are definitely mentions of using ODBC to keep org chart shapes
updated with changes. If it's not done through the wizard then where do
I need to look?

As the org chart wizard isn't very tidy and doesn't allow
pre-formatting as such, I'd have to say this is a nearly useless
facility without a refresh of some kind.


"Al Edlund" wrote in message
...
the org chart wizard does not have a refresh, it's starts new every
time - so any customization gets lost....
al

"merlin" wrote in message
...
Thanks for that - it should help my IT guys.

At home I've just managed to import from excel via odbc and create a
visio drawing (not an org chart) by following the MS knowledge base
article. One of the things I was doing wrong was not to define a
table of data in my excel sheets.I've also been able to update it but
I had to go back through the wizard because I couldn't find a refresh
option that worked.

Now I need to achieve the same with an org chart, however, the way
the data is linked to the chart seems to be different and whereas
there are various refresh options in some drawing types, I can't find
any for org chart.

You've been very helpful up to now - I hope you still have the
patience to see this through with me!



"Al Edlund" wrote in message
...
Try this for a start definition
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...bcoverview.asp

odbc (open database connectivity) are programming interfaces to
allow access to different data sources. They are a form of 'driver'
and come in different version depending on the vendors that supply
them for their products (ms generic, excel, access, oracle, db2,
etc.).

for other than ms products support odbc drivers often come with the
product.. ms usually ships some basic ones with the operating
systems and office products. You can also check ms downloads for
updates.

when network sharing data the two primary security groups are the
networking group (firewalling of application required flows) and
data center (user rights on servers). For this you will have to
check in your own organization

"merlin" wrote in message
...
OK. I'm crawling closer to cracking this.

I think I understand now that ODBC is a common interface that I
have to set up between two programs - in this case Visio and Excel.
The actual process of setting it up is eluding me.

1) is ODBC an actual file or is it something you do to the excel
and/or visio file?

2) if it's a file then where does it have to go. Can I choose or is
there a special location for it?

3) When I crack this I'll be doing it at work (practising on my
laptop at home at the mo) so can this file be on a network drive or
does it have to be local to my pc on the hard drive (I try to
avaiod that). My choice of network drives are a 'global' shared
drive and a 'home' personal drive.

4) will I need administrator rights to achieve this?

Sorry for the volume of questions. This has turned out to be more
complex than expected but I not going to give up on it!



"Al Edlund" wrote in message
...
two things. a.) what you saw with layout using the orgchart wizard
is normal b.) consider changing the name of excel file in your
odbc setup to point to the file that you just created and see if
that file works.
al

"merlin" wrote in message
...
OK I tried that. It worked fine exporting and importing (except
the subordinate shapes imported and displayed in a different
order, how annoying is that). The excel file looks similar to
mine.

This isn't a great surprise because I haven't had trouble
importing data from an excel file, it's the ODBC compliant import
function that's causing an error.

"Al Edlund" wrote in message
...
Consider trying this. Create an orgchart with visio and then
export it as excel. Compare what Visio saves to what you are
trying to give it.... Then see if Visio can import the file that
you just saved.

al

"merlin" wrote in message
...
OK - I'm a bit closer. The encryption error was indeed the file
protection (could have taken forever to find that out).
I'm now getting the error 'There are no tables or views in the
data source'.

I created a test excel sheet with a list of data on sheet 1
with a heading at the top of each column in the top row.
I saved that and closed it.
Then I went in to Visio (it was already open and on a blank
sheet)
Org ChartImport Org Chart DataInfo That's already storedODBC
compliant data source
browse to my testfile and select.
Then I get the error.

Help!




"Bill Morein [MSFT]" wrote in
message
...
Is your Excel file password protected? The ODBC drivers do not
support encrypted files.

You can also try importing the Excel data in Excel using ODBC.
Kind of a strange use, but it works and you don't need to mess
around with Access.

--
Bill Morein
http://blogs.msdn.com/wmorein
Visio
Microsoft Corporation


"merlin" wrote in message
...
Although I'm quite proficient with excel, I've never had to
use Access so I would be well out of my depth there.

Are there any common set-up mistakes I might look at?

"Al Edlund" wrote in message
...
when playing with odbc, setup is often one of the first
missteps. I like to use Access to test my odbc setups by
having it import using the odbc pointer (not the excel
import). When it get's the tables correct I can then move
on.
al

"merlin" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to link an org chart's shapes with an excel
spreadsheet using the ODBC function.

I think I've followed all the steps in the Wizard and the
help pages but I just get an error 'can't decrypt data' (or
something like that). Can anyone suggest what I'm doing
wrong? Is there maybe something else to set up or something
else I should have installed?