Quick start

Use the Install-Module cmdlet to install VisioPS from the the PowerShell Gallery.

# Install-Module comes with PowerShell 5.0
# Does not need Administrator rights
Install-Module Visio -Scope CurrentUser    

If you are new to PowerShell, run these two commands first. It will assist in debugging your scripts.

Set-StrictMode -Version 2
$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

The following script introduces several basic concepts.

Import-Module Visio

New-VisioApplication
New-VisioDocument

$basic_u = Open-VisioDocument "basic_u.vss"
$master = Get-VisioMaster "Rectangle" -Document $basic_u
$points = New-Object VisioAutomation.Geometry.Point(4,5)
$shape = New-VisioShape -Master $master -Position $points

Set-VisioText "Hello World" -Shape $shape

This is what the script creates

Here's what's happening in that script:

• New-VisioApplication starts Visio

• New-VisioDocument creates a new Visio document - this document will have one page with no shapes on it

• Open-VisioDocument loads the "Basic Shapes" stencil

• Get-VisioMaster retrieves a the "rectangle" master from the Basic Shapes stencil

• The variable $p is defined to be geometric point built from New-Object VisioAutomation.Geometry.Point(4,5)

• New-VisioShape creates a shape based by "dropping" the "Rectangle" master on the page at the position specified by $points- the units are always in inches. This shape will be selected once it is drawn.

• Set-VisioText sets the text of the active selection - which will be the shape that was dropped in the previous step