Re: Visio diag automations

[Peter Hicks <peter.hicks () poggs co uk>]

Bobby Mac wrote:

> I have to create Visio diagrams for sales engagements for a webhosting
> provider.  I use the same template based on our standard architecture but
> vary the number/model/detail of the servers.  I am sick of the cut-n-paste
> approach and am wondering who has automated some of these processes.  What I
> would like to do is provide a standard data file (excel, csv, ect..) and
> have that populate the detailed areas of the diagram.  My boss won't pay for
> any software but I can use open source under XP or cygwin.

I attempted to do data-driven diagrams with Visio, but quickly gave up. 
 I don't think Visio is the right tool for the job.

Have you thought about writing the diagram in HTML+CSS and laying it out 
that way?

Diagramming is one of the biggest problems I've had in the 10+ years 
I've been doing networking.


Poggs