diagrams in drawlingML

Question

I've been trying to make sense of the markup for diagrams in drawingML by reading the spec at section 21.4 and looking at samples of the layout.xml and data.xml parts for diagrams.  But it's not at all clear.  The spec is VERY unhelpful in this area.  Is there anything that more clearly explains the markup in these parts?

Answer 1

 Hi Danrdick

Please review material at following location : http://www.microsoft.com/resources/msdn/en-us/office/media/Open_XML_Training/DrawingML/index.html and if you still have questions, post another question to this forum.

Thanks

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Tarun Chopra | Escalation Engineer | Open Specifications Support Team

Answer 2

Yeah, I've seen that.  It's useful to get a very high level overview of drawingML, but it doesn't go into any detail regarding diagrams.  I'm looking for something that explains the structure of the diagram XML, and as I say, mostly the XML of the layout and data parts.  There's a gaping hole in the documentation for this area of drawingML.  There's the Powerpoint slides and video to which you refer, giving a high-level overview of all of drawingML, and then there's the ECMA spec and the schemas which give a very low-level view.  I'm looking for something in between for diagrams. 

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Daniel Dick

Answer 3

Hi Danrdick

Thank you for the update. A support engineer will contact you to assist further.

Thanks. 

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Tarun Chopra | Escalation Engineer | Open Specifications Support Team

Answer 4

Hi Daniel, ECMA-376 and ISO/IEC 29500 are specification documents. They are not meant to be training or how-to guides. You might be able to find some other helpful resources at the Open XML for Office Developers page, or the Open XML Developer Training Workshop.

This forum provides support for the Open Specifications documentation or the previously mentioned Open XML specification documents.  For developer support you may want to post your question on one of the Office Developer Support forums.

What area(s) of the specification do you believe requires additional information? What type of information do you think is required, or would you find useful?

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Josh Curry (jcurry) | Escalation Engineer | Open Specifications Support Team

Answer 5

Yes, I understand they are spec documents.  I'm very familiar with them, and for most topics I can come to an understanding of the xml that I need to generate by studying the spec.  But diagrams seem more complex than most topics, and I can't believe there isn't anything at a higher level that explains the semantics of the underlying diagram xml. I'm not at the point of programming anything yet.  I'd like an understanding of the xml that I need to generate before I begin any programming, so this seems like precisely the forum I should go to for that.  I have looked at the developer site and found nothing useful, but more to the point, I'm not interested in how to use the sdk to create a diagram--I'm not using the sdk, and I'm not yet programming.   I'm just asking if there is any document somewhere that explains the diagram XML other than the spec itself. 

Right now I'm reduced to this: I create a hierarchy diagram in Word, alter it by adding a shape somewhere, and compare the xml of the data1.xml diagram parts before and after the diagram was edited.  But I still don't understand how the various types of <dgm:pt> elements fit together.  There are node types, parTrans types, sibTrans types, and pres types, and I don't understand how they relate to each other. And I don't understand how the <dgm:cxn> elements relate to them.  Ultimately I'd like to be able to at least alter a few basic diagrams by adding or removing diagram nodes and changing the text inside the nodes.  But I need some understanding of the xml.  I suppose I'll get it if I keep looking and comparing various samples.  It just seems like there is, or ought to be, something that would help my understanding. I'm not saying Microsoft should have this--I'm just wondering if ANYONE has something!

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Daniel Dick

Answer 6

Hi Daniel, I will be sure to share your feedback with the documentation team.

In the meantime, I was able to locate a blog that contains all of the slide decks, sample material, and hands-on labs from the Open XML Developer Training Workshop. It's not exactly what you are looking for. But you might be able to find something useful.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dmahugh/archive/2007/08/10/developer-workshop-content.aspx

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Josh Curry (jcurry) | Escalation Engineer | Open Specifications Support Team