SharePoint/VisioViewer: Data Link updating drawing as displayed?

Hi,

I have a Visio 2007 .vsd drawing with values that are linked to a data
source via the Data Link function.

I want to embed this Visio drawing in a SharePoint page and have the drawing
periodically update with new data from the data source.

There are (at least) two ways of doing the embedding of a *static* Visio
drawing into a SharePoint Web Part page:

1)
Structure as follows, using PerformancePoint, with the first being contained
within the second and so on:
Visio drawing - Strategy map - PerformancePoint Dashboard - SharePoint Web
Part - SharePoint page.

2)
2.1) Upload the Visio drawing to the SharePoint site.
2.2) Follow the procedure of
"http://dirkvandenberghe.com/archive/2008/10/13/how-to-display-visio-file-in-sharepoint-web-part-by-elton.aspx".
That is, insert a Content Editor Web Part into a SharePoint Web Part page.
Edit its source code, as specified in the link, pointing VisioViewer to the
URL of the uploaded Visio drawing.

The problem is, regardless of chosen method, the Visio drawing does not
update with new data as it is being viewed.
Not even while loading of the resulting SharePoint page.
However, the Visio drawing does update with new data if I in SharePoint
simply open and edit the uploaded drawing from procedure 2.1 above and
refresh the Data Link data within Visio 2007.


Question:
How do I get the Visio drawing to update in accordance to the Data Link
defined within the drawing, as it is being displayed in the SharePoint Web
Part page?
Any suggestions to other approaches?

Any tips are greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Martin

The issue that you are facing (if I understand you correctly) is that Visio
drawings can only be updated within a visio application. The Visio Viewer
does not meet that requirement, you either must open it in a Visio Drawing
control or the Visio product. The second part (an assumption on my part) is
that you're looking to have the data current when viewed. Visio is not
supported on a server because it single threads. The fix for this (as
announced) is a Visio Server (similar to the Excel Server currently
available in Office Sharepoint). The Visio Server will be available in the
next release (goes into beta fairly soon).
hth,
al


"Martin" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have a Visio 2007 .vsd drawing with values that are linked to a data
source via the Data Link function.

I want to embed this Visio drawing in a SharePoint page and have the
drawing
periodically update with new data from the data source.

There are (at least) two ways of doing the embedding of a *static* Visio
drawing into a SharePoint Web Part page:

1)
Structure as follows, using PerformancePoint, with the first being
contained
within the second and so on:
Visio drawing - Strategy map - PerformancePoint Dashboard - SharePoint Web
Part - SharePoint page.

2)
2.1) Upload the Visio drawing to the SharePoint site.
2.2) Follow the procedure of
"http://dirkvandenberghe.com/archive/2008/10/13/how-to-display-visio-file-in-sharepoint-web-part-by-elton.aspx".
That is, insert a Content Editor Web Part into a SharePoint Web Part page.
Edit its source code, as specified in the link, pointing VisioViewer to
the
URL of the uploaded Visio drawing.

The problem is, regardless of chosen method, the Visio drawing does not
update with new data as it is being viewed.
Not even while loading of the resulting SharePoint page.
However, the Visio drawing does update with new data if I in SharePoint
simply open and edit the uploaded drawing from procedure 2.1 above and
refresh the Data Link data within Visio 2007.


Question:
How do I get the Visio drawing to update in accordance to the Data Link
defined within the drawing, as it is being displayed in the SharePoint Web
Part page?
Any suggestions to other approaches?

Any tips are greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Martin

Hi Al,

Thank you for your reply.

Do not hesitate to come with other suggestions if they should emerge.

Regards,
Martin

"AlEdlund" wrote:

The issue that you are facing (if I understand you correctly) is that Visio
drawings can only be updated within a visio application. The Visio Viewer
does not meet that requirement, you either must open it in a Visio Drawing
control or the Visio product. The second part (an assumption on my part) is
that you're looking to have the data current when viewed. Visio is not
supported on a server because it single threads. The fix for this (as
announced) is a Visio Server (similar to the Excel Server currently
available in Office Sharepoint). The Visio Server will be available in the
next release (goes into beta fairly soon).
hth,
al


"Martin" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have a Visio 2007 .vsd drawing with values that are linked to a data
source via the Data Link function.

I want to embed this Visio drawing in a SharePoint page and have the
drawing
periodically update with new data from the data source.

There are (at least) two ways of doing the embedding of a *static* Visio
drawing into a SharePoint Web Part page:

1)
Structure as follows, using PerformancePoint, with the first being
contained
within the second and so on:
Visio drawing - Strategy map - PerformancePoint Dashboard - SharePoint Web
Part - SharePoint page.

2)
2.1) Upload the Visio drawing to the SharePoint site.
2.2) Follow the procedure of
"http://dirkvandenberghe.com/archive/2008/10/13/how-to-display-visio-file-in-sharepoint-web-part-by-elton.aspx".
That is, insert a Content Editor Web Part into a SharePoint Web Part page.
Edit its source code, as specified in the link, pointing VisioViewer to
the
URL of the uploaded Visio drawing.

The problem is, regardless of chosen method, the Visio drawing does not
update with new data as it is being viewed.
Not even while loading of the resulting SharePoint page.
However, the Visio drawing does update with new data if I in SharePoint
simply open and edit the uploaded drawing from procedure 2.1 above and
refresh the Data Link data within Visio 2007.


Question:
How do I get the Visio drawing to update in accordance to the Data Link
defined within the drawing, as it is being displayed in the SharePoint Web
Part page?
Any suggestions to other approaches?

Any tips are greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Martin

Just to add to Al's comment (and I agree that Visio Services will certainly
be the way to go)....it depends on how periodically you'd want to update the
data and also how much and what data you want o update, but you could
potentially save the file in xml format (.vdx) and then run a bit of xlinq
over the file to update it.

Just a thought.

Best regards

John


John Goldsmith (Visio MVP)
www.visualSignals.typepad.co.uk
www.visualSignals.co.uk

"Martin" wrote in message
...
Hi Al,

Thank you for your reply.

Do not hesitate to come with other suggestions if they should emerge.

Regards,
Martin

"AlEdlund" wrote:

The issue that you are facing (if I understand you correctly) is that
Visio
drawings can only be updated within a visio application. The Visio Viewer
does not meet that requirement, you either must open it in a Visio
Drawing
control or the Visio product. The second part (an assumption on my part)
is
that you're looking to have the data current when viewed. Visio is not
supported on a server because it single threads. The fix for this (as
announced) is a Visio Server (similar to the Excel Server currently
available in Office Sharepoint). The Visio Server will be available in
the
next release (goes into beta fairly soon).
hth,
al


"Martin" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have a Visio 2007 .vsd drawing with values that are linked to a data
source via the Data Link function.

I want to embed this Visio drawing in a SharePoint page and have the
drawing
periodically update with new data from the data source.

There are (at least) two ways of doing the embedding of a *static*
Visio
drawing into a SharePoint Web Part page:

1)
Structure as follows, using PerformancePoint, with the first being
contained
within the second and so on:
Visio drawing - Strategy map - PerformancePoint Dashboard - SharePoint
Web
Part - SharePoint page.

2)
2.1) Upload the Visio drawing to the SharePoint site.
2.2) Follow the procedure of
"http://dirkvandenberghe.com/archive/2008/10/13/how-to-display-visio-file-in-sharepoint-web-part-by-elton.aspx".
That is, insert a Content Editor Web Part into a SharePoint Web Part
page.
Edit its source code, as specified in the link, pointing VisioViewer to
the
URL of the uploaded Visio drawing.

The problem is, regardless of chosen method, the Visio drawing does not
update with new data as it is being viewed.
Not even while loading of the resulting SharePoint page.
However, the Visio drawing does update with new data if I in SharePoint
simply open and edit the uploaded drawing from procedure 2.1 above and
refresh the Data Link data within Visio 2007.


Question:
How do I get the Visio drawing to update in accordance to the Data Link
defined within the drawing, as it is being displayed in the SharePoint
Web
Part page?
Any suggestions to other approaches?

Any tips are greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Martin

Two additional thoughts as fyi's

David Parker just released his visViewer (a customized shareware visio
viewer with source code) that adds functionality to the visio viewer process
http://bvisual.spaces.live.com/blog/...3A9!1077.entry

and there are examples of web based update processes out on the internet, I
just haven't seen any specific to Visio when it comes to Sharepoint.

al



"John Goldsmith_Visio_MVP" wrote in
message ...
Just to add to Al's comment (and I agree that Visio Services will
certainly be the way to go)....it depends on how periodically you'd want
to update the data and also how much and what data you want o update, but
you could potentially save the file in xml format (.vdx) and then run a
bit of xlinq over the file to update it.

Just a thought.

Best regards

John


John Goldsmith (Visio MVP)
www.visualSignals.typepad.co.uk
www.visualSignals.co.uk

"Martin" wrote in message
...
Hi Al,

Thank you for your reply.

Do not hesitate to come with other suggestions if they should emerge.

Regards,
Martin

"AlEdlund" wrote:

The issue that you are facing (if I understand you correctly) is that
Visio
drawings can only be updated within a visio application. The Visio
Viewer
does not meet that requirement, you either must open it in a Visio
Drawing
control or the Visio product. The second part (an assumption on my
part) is
that you're looking to have the data current when viewed. Visio is not
supported on a server because it single threads. The fix for this (as
announced) is a Visio Server (similar to the Excel Server currently
available in Office Sharepoint). The Visio Server will be available in
the
next release (goes into beta fairly soon).
hth,
al


"Martin" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have a Visio 2007 .vsd drawing with values that are linked to a data
source via the Data Link function.

I want to embed this Visio drawing in a SharePoint page and have the
drawing
periodically update with new data from the data source.

There are (at least) two ways of doing the embedding of a *static*
Visio
drawing into a SharePoint Web Part page:

1)
Structure as follows, using PerformancePoint, with the first being
contained
within the second and so on:
Visio drawing - Strategy map - PerformancePoint Dashboard - SharePoint
Web
Part - SharePoint page.

2)
2.1) Upload the Visio drawing to the SharePoint site.
2.2) Follow the procedure of
"http://dirkvandenberghe.com/archive/2008/10/13/how-to-display-visio-file-in-sharepoint-web-part-by-elton.aspx".
That is, insert a Content Editor Web Part into a SharePoint Web Part
page.
Edit its source code, as specified in the link, pointing VisioViewer
to
the
URL of the uploaded Visio drawing.

The problem is, regardless of chosen method, the Visio drawing does
not
update with new data as it is being viewed.
Not even while loading of the resulting SharePoint page.
However, the Visio drawing does update with new data if I in
SharePoint
simply open and edit the uploaded drawing from procedure 2.1 above and
refresh the Data Link data within Visio 2007.


Question:
How do I get the Visio drawing to update in accordance to the Data
Link
defined within the drawing, as it is being displayed in the SharePoint
Web
Part page?
Any suggestions to other approaches?

Any tips are greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Martin