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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/sharepoint-odbc-visio.rst

⇱ How to create Visio diagrams from SharePoint Data

How to create Visio diagrams from SharePoint Data

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Automatically update SharePoint data with the changes you make to Visio master shapes.

Automate the process of entering data into Visio diagrams and keeping your diagrams up to date with the CData ODBC Driver for SharePoint. The driver surfaces SharePoint data as an ODBC data source that can be accessed by applications with built-in ODBC support like Microsoft Office. This article shows how to create a simple diagram to start brainstorming about Visio projects linked to SharePoint data.

About SharePoint Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from SharePoint has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access data from a wide range of SharePoint versions, including Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and above, and SharePoint Online.
  • Access all of SharePoint thanks to support for Hidden and Lookup columns.
  • Recursively scan folders to create a relational model of all SharePoint data.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to upload and download documents and attachments.

Most customers rely on CData solutions to integrate SharePoint data into their database or data warehouse, while others integrate their SharePoint data with preferred data tools, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel.

For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's SharePoint solutions, refer to our blog: Drivers in Focus: Collaboration Tools.


Getting Started


Connect to SharePoint as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.

The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.

If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation

Connect SharePoint Data to Diagrams

Follow the steps below to use the Data Selector Wizard to import data into your diagram.

  1. Open Visio and click File -> New. Open the Brainstorming template.
  2. On the Data tab, click Custom Import and select Other OLEDB or ODBC data source. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Select the ODBC option and select ODBC DSN.
  4. Select the DSN for SharePoint, select the table you want to import, and finish the wizard. This article uses MyCustomList as an example.
👁 A table imported into a diagram based on the Brainstorming stencil. (Salesforce is shown.)

Link SharePoint Entities to Shapes

Follow the steps below to create a simple diagram that shows how to create shapes from your data, one of the ways to link SharePoint entities to shapes:

  1. Click Brainstorming Shapes and drag a main topic onto the drawing page. Enter MyCustomList as the text of the main topic.
  2. Click Topic.
  3. Select a row in the External Data window and drag it onto the drawing page.
  4. Right-click the Topic shape and click Data -> Edit Data Graphic.
  5. Click New Item.
  6. In the Data Field menu, select a column. In the Displayed As menu, select how to display them. 👁 A data graphic for a column.
  7. Drag a few other SharePoint entities onto the drawing page and add association lines back to the main topic, MyCustomList. New topics have the same configuration: Numeric columns displayed in data bars stand out in contrast to other MyCustomList entities. 👁 Brainstorming with external data. (Salesforce is shown.)

You can refresh your diagram from the Data tab, synchronizing your shapes with the external SharePoint data.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the SharePoint ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

👁 SharePoint Icon
SharePoint ODBC Driver

The SharePoint ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from SharePoint and SharePoint Online, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access SharePoint data like you would a database - read, write, and update SharePoint Lists, Contacts, Calendar, Links, Tasks, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.