Importing a Visio XML Drawing File

ActiveVOS Designer User’s Guide

Importing a Visio XML Drawing File

You can import a Visio XML drawing from Visio 2010 Premium (or later) that is created with the BPMN template or flowchart using BPMN shapes. Other types of Visio drawings cannot be converted to BPEL.

As a first step, in Visio, save the file as an XML drawing with a vdx extension.

To import a Visio file and convert it to a BPEL process:

Select File>Import>Orchestration>Visio XML Drawing
Select a Visio file from your workspace or the file system. The file must have the vdx extension.
Select a project folder location for the file. For example, select the bpel folder of an orchestration project.
Depending on the contents of the file, especially if the file includes multiple pools, you must type in a name or keep the default name for the file(s) to be converted to BPEL. The .bpel extension is automatically provided.
If desired, you can overwrite an existing BPEL file.
The Scale factor creates the BPEL process with a default amount of space between activities.

Tips on converting your Visio files:

The Visio vdx file is not imported into your project. The import wizard converts the Visio file to BPEL.
The scale factor is a Visio measure unit (by default in inches) to convert to pixels in Designer. If the default of 150 creates a BPEL process that displays too much space between activities, try setting the value to 100. Alternately, in Designer, select Auto Layout to improve the placement of activities on the canvas.
If a Visio file contains multiple pools, each pool is converted to one BPEL file. Multiple pools are not supported in one BPEL file.
Messaging data that exists between pools is not supported. In Designer, you must create a process-to-process or process-to-subprocess invoke handler in the Process Deployment Descriptor.
Be sure to view the Errors and Problems views to see the messages generated from the conversion