CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javavisio
Peter Busse
Peter Busse

Reputation: 31

Create .vsdx files (Microsoft Visio) in Java

I'm looking for some info on how to create a .vsdx file in Java without any commercial libraries. According to other questions it seems to be pretty tough. As a source we have a different, probably unknown file format called .epml that contains graphical information of EPCs which we should be able to convert to a .xml file. As far as I understand the .vsdx format so far, that's one of many files in the unzipped .vsdx required. I'd be glad if anyone could tell me about my options how to implement/create all the other files.

EDIT: The goal here is to be able to convert the graphic information of the .epml file so Visio is able to read & display it as in the source. Therefore, it doesn't have to be a .vsdx file if there are other possible options.

Thanks!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1676

Answers (2)

Nikolay
Nikolay

Reputation: 12255

EPML is a not an unknown format, it is an interchange format for EPC tools. Just try to google it :)

I would suggest you convert your .epml files to .svg (there are free open source converters available, like epml2svg). Visio can read and show .svg files. Means - writing code does not seem to be required to achieve your goal (to convert .epml files to something Visio can show). AFAR there is online version of the tool as well - you upload EPML file, get back SVG, and just open it in Visio - that's it.

Side note - there are companies, like bpm-x for example, specializing in BPM tool-to-tool diagram conversion. Maybe they already have a solution for your original tool.

The .VSDX file is "office xml" format, that is also open and documented. But it's pretty tough to generate file from scratch, you are right. So in principle you could start with any code that is capable of handling open xml packages. Microsoft has OpenXML SDK, but that's .NET (MSDN HOWTO assumes you are using .NET, but explains basics of what the open xml package consists of)

AFAIK, for java, there are no open source visio libraries you could use. Java and Visio seem to live in parallel universes. The only viable commercial option I've heard of seem to be Aspose.

Upvotes: 2

y4cine
y4cine

Reputation: 394

Interesting - whilst I cannot give a final answer, here are some thoughts:

Question 1: Why would you want to avoid commercial tools, when the final result file will require some - namely "Visio"?

1) Creating Visio files from XML: Create template XMLs from a VSDX. Identify the files, that you need to edit. From what I've seen, these should be the masters and the pages files. Being able to make an XML from EPML, you should also know how to adapt it to a new structure. This solution is probably by far the most tedious and less flexible.

2) Use Visio automation: Presuming that the final document will need more than just graphics, namely shape data as well, an easier solution would consist of creating the graphics first a) as SVG and import into Visio b) even easier - automated drawing by Visio's automation capabilities (VBA, .Net, ...). The shapes to drop would already have been prepared as masters will all the relevant data and behaviour settings. Then you would populate the data by means of one of the many data linking features (Wizard, Standard data linking, ODBC connections, etc.)

Upvotes: 1

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