Two Way Data Sync

[jrobb1]

I'm working on a project, and would like the end result to be as user friendly as possible.

I am currently able to link either Excel tables or an Access database to my shapes, and have them set up to automatically update from their data source to keep everything current. The issue I've hit, is people love seeing the shape data when they click on a shape, and they want to be able to edit the data there instead.

Is there a way to allow changes made in Visio to update in Excel/Access and allow changes in Excel/Access to update in Visio?

If it helps, I'm using 2010 Pro

[Yacine]

I'm working on the same problem (http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=5750.0)
I managed to get a loop Access-Visio-Access, but am not happy with the result.
I've basically set up the base data in Access, linked the DB to the drawing and in the drawing I call the export tool which writes the data in a temporary table in Access, a macro is then executed which synchronises the 2 tables via some queries.
Cumbersome.

The new Idea is now to create an excel instance, and track changes in the data. The changes will trigger an update macro. We are still not through this. I suspect some major issues ahead of us.

Cheers,
Yacine

[jrobb1]

Thanks, I stumbled on that earlier but I was holding out hope that somehow Microsoft had already put something better in to do the same task that will take me several extra steps.

As of about a month ago, I was a serious baby in both Visio and Access, but I've really started to get the hang of things enough to understand how you made it work for you. I'll end up playing around and making it work for me and my project.

I appreciate the link and your tips!

[cliff50]

Hi ,
I often link my diagrams to underlying data

as I recall:

if you have a standard shape

use the Visio addon -> database wizard

look for the following :

select the shape from the document stencil  then-> link to document stencil, select data source (MicrosoftAccess driver),select database refresh and database Update action options,  select Table, select primary key of Table, select additional attributes from the database table as required.

This will create a link between the shapes custom properties ( and other shape attributes if required) and the underlying data table.
The custom properties attributes will then appear in the Visio shape window where they can be altered  by the users.

The shape action properties will then have the database refresh and update actions on the right click action event.

It should operate all through the visio graphic front end.

cheers

[jrobb1]

Thanks Cliff, I found this yesterday which seems like exactly what you are describing, I got it up and working, i'll have to redo my Visio document a little bit to make this work but I'm really glad to see that it's possible.

http://youtu.be/SuPzJ5g8Z0E

For my first time posting here, really happy to get some quality responses, thanks a lot!