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WebPlatform Documentation

Visio Import/Export in Process Designer

Things you need to know

  • When creating a process in Visio there are few things the user needs to do to import into designer successfully
    • Use Valid Shapes which import into designer
  • There shapes are from ‘Basic Standard Flowchart’ and Miscellaneous Flowchart’ Shapes in Visio
    • In order to add transition details and options in Visio, the user needs to add connector text on the connector from the transition to the WorkItem
    • If a valid shape is not used, designer will ignore the shape during the import stage

Shapes you need to use to import successfully into designer

  • Here is the list of the shapes we need to use in Visio when creating a process to import into designer successfully
    • As we can see the shapes come from the Miscellaneous Flowchart Shapes and the Basic Flowchart Shapes

Adding transition details in Visio

  • To add transition details and options in Visio, the user needs to
    • Add connector text on the routes from the transition to the subsequent WorkItem.
  • To add connector text, double click on the connector
    • A text box will appear, the user here needs to type in what the selectable option in the process is for the process to go down this route
  • When importing the diagram in designer a context object for the transition will be created
    • The transition options for the process comes from the connector text the user has inputted in the Visio diagram

Importing a Process from Visio into Process Designer

  • Once the user has created the process in Visio, its time to import into designer on the WebPlatform
  • Go into the Process List in designer and click on the Import button in the process list grid
  • A dialog box will appear asking the user if they want to upload a standalone process or update an existing process.
  • The user can enter information for the process to be imported and also change the process name.
  • The functionality for importing works by
    • Matching the standard shapes in Visio to those of the WMS WorkItem types.
    • The text inside the shape is imported as the WorkItem name and is truncated if necessary
    • Invalid shapes (shapes that don't map to a WMS WorkItem type) are ignored

Exporting from process designer to Visio

  • In Designer hover over the Export button in the process list grid
  • A dropdown will appear asking the user if they want to
    • Export to a Portable Process Format (.prd)
    • Export to a Visio XML Document (.vsdx)
  • Select Visio XML Document to download the process to a Visio Document

Troubleshooting Scenario: transition name is too long so process does not import

  • When the user exports a process out of designer into visio, makes a change and then re imports back into designer, one issue the user may face is the transition context object being too long so the process does not import
    • If this is the case, the user needs to ensure the transition is within the character limit (30) in order to import correctly into designer.
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