Changes and formatting of all BPMN shapes

The BPMN standard defines every object not only by its initial configuration but also by several variations. For example, following the BPMN standards, Start Event can have several visual variations, and the container object can be either a pool or a lane. With normal diagramming tools, they would have to be different objects, but here, we use the Visio technology of smart shapes, which allows us to have one object with variations instead of various different objects. This section will show you how to manipulate the shapes and where to get the variation of the shape you need for your documentation.

Accessing the variations through metadata

All variations of a specific object can be set by setting the corresponding metadata. Metadata in Visio is called shape data. So, we start by opening Shape Data Window in Visio. Access to this window is placed on the Data ribbon tab:

Figure 4.5 – Access to Shape Data...