Getting information from data diagrams

Visio documents are data diagrams, and Visio can be used to generate data just as easily as it can consume and represent data. Some of the built-in Visio add-ons have custom export features, such as Gantt Chart, which can export a Microsoft Project file. There is also a general tool, Shape Reports, that can be used to export specific shapes and their data. Often, though, it is necessary to write custom extracts with code.

Using Shape Reports

Visio includes a Shape Reports feature on the Review ribbon tab. This can be used to create simple reports of shapes and their data from Visio. It is not a fully featured report writer, but nonetheless it can be very useful at times. Some reports are provided out-of-the box and become available within documents, depending upon the type of shapes found within it. However, it is easy to create custom reports that can be stored as separate files (with a *.vrd extension) or within the Visio document. These definitions...