python and microsoft visio

[Gerrit Muller]

Jaco Smuts wrote:

> 
> Hello there
> 
> short question: Any body got experience in extracting information from 
> visio drawings using python.
> I presume I am looking at something like 
> win32com.client.Dispatch('Visio.Application [or Drawing]), but I am a 
> bit lost.
> 
> 
> long version:
> I am about  to embark on an excersize to document existing deployment of 
> middleware in our organisation.
> (will also be used for design of future projects)
> The standard used for architecture and design docs here is MS Visio.
> I am hoping to write a python script to  extract information from these 
> drawings. Then use  this information to test the actual deployment vs. 
> the documents.
> Any ideas will be appreciated.
> 
> thanks
> Jaco
> 
Jaco,

I am using Python to automate the generation of derived formats: eps and 
gif. My experiences with this combination are that Visio automation is 
somewhat shaky. I am using Visio 5. On the net I hear that newer Visio 
versions have changed the export functions I am using, but they did 
apparantly not improve :-(. The symptoms are Visio crashes because of 
some memory problem. Despite this intermittent problem I generate the 
complete Gaudi site, with over 700 different Visio Diagrams, with these 
tools. You are welcome to have a look at my scripts, but they are really 
very poorly documented, abosuletly non-fool proof, scripts.

kind regards, Gerrit

-- 
Gaudi systems architecting:
<http://www.extra.research.philips.com/natlab/sysarch/>