Microsoft Visio 2010 : Adding Structure to Your Diagrams - Finding Containers and Lists in Visio (part 1) - Swimlanes

1/12/2014 8:29:18 PM

1. Formatting and Sizing Lists

The Format contextual tab in the Container Tools contextual tab set provides most of the same functions for lists that it does for containers.

In the Size group:

Because Visio controls the size of a list shape, Fit To Container and Automatic Resize are disabled.
You can use the Margins button to adjust the spacing between the edges of the list and the contained shapes.

In the Container Styles group:

From the style gallery, you can select 1 of 12 preformatted list styles.
The Heading Style gallery provides 20 heading placement and style alternatives.

In the Membership group:

The Lock Container, Select Contents, and Disband Container buttons provide the same functions for lists that they do for containers.

You cannot change the size of a Visio list shape. Visio expands and contracts each list shape so it is the exact size of its member shapes plus the margin around the shapes.

2.Finding Containers and Lists in Visio

Several Visio 2010 templates take advantage of the properties of containers and lists to enhance ease-of-use and to add valuable features. In this section, you will discover three examples.

Swimlanes

One of the most prominent examples of list and container usage is for cross-functional flowcharts, also known as swimlane diagrams.

The Visio 2010 swimlane add-in was completely redesigned to take advantage of both lists and containers, with the net effect that a cross-functional flowchart (CFF) is a “list of containers”!

The framework that holds swimlanes is a list.
Each swimlane is a container.

In this exercise, you will create part of a swimlane diagram to understand how lists and containers are used.

Set Up

Click the top edge of the CFF, and then type Sample Swimlane Diagram.

Because the CFF structure is a list, the text you typed appears in the list heading.
Click the rectangle at the left end of the upper swimlane, and then type Accounting.

Because the swimlane is a container, your text appears in the container heading.
Click the rectangle at the left end of the lower swimlane, type Legal, and then press the Escape key.

The following graphic shows the results of Steps 1, 2, and 3.
Drag a Process shape into the Accounting swimlane.

Notice that the swimlane shows the orange border that you previously learned was characteristic behavior for containers.
Drag a Decision shape into the Legal swimlane and position it to the right of the process shape in the Accounting lane.
Drag the AutoConnect arrow on the right side of the process shape to link that shape to the Decision shape.
Rest the cursor just outside the CFF frame at the junction between the Accounting and Legal swimlanes (see the cursor in the following graphic).

Once again, you see evidence that a cross-functional flowchart is a list: the list insertion bar appears on the boundary between the Accounting and Legal lanes. Also, be sure to note the blue insertion triangle that appears at the end of the insertion bar. Clicking the blue insertion triangle automatically adds the default insertion object at the insertion bar location.

Tip

Not all lists have a default insertion object. If you click the blue insertion triangle on a list without a default, Visio will insert a copy of one of the adjacent list members.
Click the blue insertion triangle, shown in the previous graphic.

Visio inserts a new swimlane between the other two and maintains all existing connections between shapes in the lanes.
Click in the heading area of the Accounting swimlane and drag it down below the Legal lane.

Visio moves the Accounting lane to the end of the list and maintains the connections between shapes within and across all swimlanes.

Clean Up

Save and close your diagram if you want to keep it; otherwise, just close it.

Adding, deleting, and rearranging swimlanes is more predictable and logical in Visio 2010 because containers and lists provide the underlying structure.

Swimlane diagrams derive another benefit from being built as containers: shapes in the container know they are contained. To see evidence of this, examine the Function field in the shape data for any flowchart shape in a swimlane. As an example, the following graphics show the shape data for the process shape (on the left) and decision diamond shape (right) from the preceding graphic. The value in the Function field is derived dynamically from the swimlane heading; if you change the value of the swimlane title, the Function field will be updated for all contained shapes.