Any Visio templates for mocking up interfaces? - modeling

I would like to use Visio to mockup a few ASP.NET interfaces that I can share with a client. I know I can create these using Visual Studio, but I would rather use a graphics tool if possible.
I have Visio 2007 that came with MS Office and I do not have any software or database templates. Does anyone know where I can find templates/stencils/shapes I can use for this?
If there are any other tools that I can use I'm open to that too. I'm leaning towards Visio because I already have it and know how to use it.
Thanks!

You can pull the parts from this PowerPoint template set: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20071018/powerpoint-prototype-toolkit-01/ and use them in Visio.

Visio 2010 comes with a really nice set of wireframe shapes, but you have to buy the Pro or Premium versions, as Standard doesn't come with them.
Previous versions of Visio had some Windows UI shapes, but I'm not sure which editions included them. They are usually located in the "Software" stencils sub-directory.
I've also got a smattering of downloads on my site that might augment your UI collection. Have a look here:
http://www.visguy.com/category/visio-content/shapes/wireframes-ia/

Related

Visio Professional 2013 doesn't support UML deployment diagram. How to work with Visio 2013 to make one?

I'm using Visio 2013 to make UML deployment diagram. Unfortunately it doesn't support - it doesn't have any default template etc. Since last 10 hours and more I've been searching for some right tool that helps me make such diagrams. I didn't find any helpful tool yet. Please guide me.
If you want to create a deployment diagram that is similar to the ones you could make in earlier versions of Visio, I'd recommend going to this site and downloading their UML stencils for 2013.
You could also look at branching out a bit and using something like Archimate. You can look at section 9.4.14 in this document to see an example of a deployment/implementation viewpoint with Archimate. Orbus has a free download of the Archimate 2.0 stencils here. I think you have to go through a free registration, but they won't spam you.

How to write add-in for SharePoint Designer 2010

I'm looking for information on writing an add-in for SharePoint Designer 2010. If you go to File->options there is a possibility to add COM add-in's, I would like to write one, preferably using C#.
Any pointers to documentation/examples?
What SharePoint specific classes are accessible?
http://vsto.codeplex.com/releases/view/17375 -- This might be helpful to you.
http://www.deque.com/products/deque-labs/sharepoint-designer-2010-add-in --This is the way you can install any adding.
There's some information that may be useful on this forum: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepoint2010customization/thread/be3c20bf-f842-46ae-8cf1-a2dd81a6c4dc
I haven't tried it myself though.

Creating a Visio Repository

This is my first question, so forgive me if it has been asked before.
I have a lot of diagrams that I created with Microsoft Visio 2007, and would like to share them with other developers. What would be the easiest way to do that? By sharing I mean being able to view the diagram, ideally without having Visio 2007 installed, and making change requests.
Can I do this with Sharepoint? Can I use the SVG export?
Any recommendations would be appreciated.
There is a visio plugin for internet explorer which users can install, that's probably your best solution. To avoid users having to install it you would have to export the files in some image format. You can then dump the files in a SharePoint repository; in a shared folder on your network or upload them to a website.
Visio has some good export options available...You can create an HTML/Javascript export, though I've traditionally just exported GIF files (which is a nice fast export if you're automating a batch export), and the text stays readable (compared to jpeg) with relatively small file sizes (compared to bmp).
Though if speed/ease of use/automate-ability is not much of an issue I like to just use PDF.
You can also export your visio model as an xmi file and open it with other (free) UML tools as ArgoUML (but first, you need to transform the xmi file, e.g. using this free service http://modeling-languages.com/content/xmi2-tool-exchanging-uml-models-among-case-tools, since the XMI standard is not as standard as it should be)
This way, others cannot only visualize the file but also modify it. Caveat: the graphical layout organization of your model will be lost, only the information about the content is stored in the file

Best practice for redesigning a SharePoint site

Basically need to use SharePoint (because we promote MS yay!) as a content management system for an internet facing site.
How do I get rid of the default SharePoint look and feel and make it look like however I want it to?
I know the process involves creating a new masterpage with SharePoint Designer. However I prefer to code webpages rather than use a visual editor. Is this possible? Do I need knowledge of .NET?
Just check out ferrari.com for a very well made redesign of a SharePoint site.
Heather Solomon's Branding SharePoint series would be a good place to start. There's a lot you can do just with CSS, JS and HTML, but the most complete solutions (like Ferrari) require some pretty extensive customization with .NET and other SharePoint development techniques (features and delegate controls, in particular).
Your branding effort will be a lot easier if you only need to heavily brand the public-facing "publishing pages", from which you can remove most of the SharePoint-specific elements that make branding difficult.
Also, SharePoint Designer has a source view if you don't like the visual editor.
Yes it is possible to make it look like however you want it to (as you've seen from the Ferrari site). However to create that sort of site takes a lot of work.
Microsoft recommend the use of SharePoint Designer for 'designing' pages and layouts. However changing their behaviour almost always needs Visual Studio and development in .NET. You can largely avoid SharePoint Designer (which may worth considering as it can be a PITA) with an open source tool such as SPVisualDev. Use this with WSPBuilder for packaging your solutions (and avoid VSeWSS where possible).
Considering it sounds like you're just getting started, be aware this is a big topic with a reasonable learning curve. Read a good book on the topic such as Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007 by Andrew Connell. It takes you through most things you will encounter from the ground up.
I'm working my way through Real World Branding by Andrew Connell at the moment. It seems like a good demonstration, with code.
Plus the Heather Solomon articles as suggested by dahlbyk are always informative.
Just changing the theme, or creating a custom theme for the site, can go a long way towards making SharePoint look a lot better. It's also a lot less intensive then changing the master pages.
How to create a theme
How to deploy a theme
Example customization you can do with just CSS
Does the EULA allow you to disguise the fact that it's MS software?
Remember, you didn't buy the software, you're just paying for the privilege of using it.

Sharepoint Code Generation Tool

our team is looking to use a code generation tool for the current sharepoint application we are working on. We want to be able to generate most of the stored procedures and business entities instead of having to write them from scratch. Any recommendation what is the best code generation tool to use with sharepoint projects. I am familiar with CodeSmith, but I wasn't sure if there are any better solutions out there for this.
Code generation is not really necessary for SharePoint, all the code is generated in the SharePoint .NET Libraries.
The formulation of your question implies quite serious misunderstandings about SharePoint and it's use of databases.
If you want to talk to a custom database through a generated Data Access Layer, I would say go for the ADO.NET Entity Framework (works with VS2008 SP1 and .NET 3.5 SP1 only though.
A custom solution would be LLBLGen Pro

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