-
On the Data tab, in the
Display Data group, click the
Data Graphics button to open the
gallery. (To see a graphic of the Data Graphic gallery, see Step 2
in the preceding exercise.)
-
Right-click the Topology 2
thumbnail, and then click Edit.
The Edit Data Graphic dialog box for Topology 2 opens.
In the upper half of the Edit Data Graphic dialog box, you can
add, edit, or delete individual items within the data graphic. In
the lower half, you can modify the characteristics of the data
graphic as a whole. You will use the lower half for this
exercise.
Important
You establish the default position for a data
graphic in the lower-left corner of the Edit Data Graphic dialog
box. (Both the horizontal and vertical position are relative to
the shape to which the graphic will be attached.) Data graphic
items in the upper half of the dialog box whose Position is set to
Default will appear at this location.
-
In the Default position
section of the Edit Data Graphic
dialog box, click the arrow next to Horizontal, and then click Center.
-
Click the arrow next to Vertical, and then click Above Shape.
Tip
You will need to scroll up to locate Above Shape in the
list.
-
Click OK. You have
relocated the data graphic so it appears above the center of the
server shape.
Tip
The data graphic in the preceding graphic has a border
around it. You can turn the border off by clearing the Show Border
Around Items At Default Location check box in the Display Options
section of the Edit Data Graphic dialog box shown in Step
2.
In the remaining steps of this exercise, you will alter the
Topology 1 data graphic to make the display of
the network name for the server consistent with the format used in
the Topology 2 data graphic. You will also
change the display of CPU speed from text to a graphical
presentation.
-
On the Data tab, in the
Display Data group, click the
Data Graphics button to open the
gallery, right-click the Topology
1 thumbnail, and then click Edit.
The upper half of the Edit Data Graphic dialog box
shows the parameters for the items contained in this data graphic.
Looking at the row for the Network Name data field, you see that it
is displayed as Text and is positioned in the Center, Below (the
server) Shape. Similarly, the CPU (MHz) field is displayed as Text
in the Default location for the data graphic.
-
With Network Name already
selected in the Data Field list
(notice the highlight on that item), click the Edit Item button. The Edit Item dialog box
opens.
Tip
You can also double-click anywhere in an item row to open
the dialog box.
In the upper left of the Edit Item dialog box, you see the
shape data field name, the display type of Text, and a predefined
style called Bubble Callout.
In the upper-right corner of the dialog box, note that the Use
Default Position check box is cleared. As a result, the positions
set in this dialog box for Horizontal and Vertical override the
default position of the data graphic as a whole. (You saw the result
of this setting in the graphic in Step 8 of the previous section’s
exercise. The main part of the data graphic is to the left of the
server shape, but the name is below the shape.)
The lower half of the dialog box displays customizable
parameters for this data graphic item. Be sure to notice the scroll
bar in the parameter list; there are additional parameters that are
not currently visible.
-
In the Display section of
the Edit Item dialog box, click
the arrow next to Style. The list
shows a set of predefined text callout styles. (Scroll to see all of
them.)
-
Click Heading
3.
-
In the Position section of
the dialog box, display the Vertical list, click Above shape (You might need to scroll up to
locate this selection), and then click OK.
You have changed the location of the server name display. Next
you will change the way that CPU speed is presented.
-
In the Edit Data Graphic
dialog box, click the row containing the CPU
(MHz) item, and then click the Edit Item button.
-
In the Display section of
the Edit Item dialog box, click
the arrow next to Displayed as.
The list shows the four display options for data graphic
items.
-
Click Data Bar.
-
In the Display section of
the of the Edit Item dialog box,
click the arrow next to Style.
The list shows the predefined data bar types. As you
can see, data bars are designed for showing relative values in a
variety of ways.
Tip
The collection of data bars offers a variety of interesting
ways to display numeric data. You will use one of them in this
exercise but you should take a few minutes to explore some of the
other choices for potential future use.
-
Click Data bar 3.
-
In the Details section of
the Edit Item dialog box, type
5 in the Maximum Value field.
Important
The Minimum Value and Maximum Value fields are critical for
data bar graphic items. These two values set the boundaries for
the values in the selected shape data field and allow Visio to
scale the data bar graphic accordingly.
-
In the Details section,
click in the Label Position
field, and then click Not Shown
from the list. This action turns off the display of the shape data
field name.
-
In the Position section of
the dialog box, clear the Use default
position check box.
The Edit Item dialog box should now look like the following
graphic.
-
Click OK in both the
Edit Item and Edit Data Graphic dialog boxes.
Your revised diagram has several advantages over the initial
version:
-
It uses a consistent presentation style for the server
names; they are displayed above the server in white text on a
blue background.
-
The display of CPU speed is much more effective as a
proportionally sized icon than it was as text. It’s easy to tell
at a glance that several of the servers on the left of the
diagram may be underpowered.
