[Solved] Alternative to Visio?

[Big_Col]

Hi! I'm using OOo 2.3 (about to download 2.4) on a Windows XP PC
I often use Microsoft Visio to draw plans and circuit diagrams at work, have created a large number of custom shapes to suit my needs, and have them saved in a template ready to drop and drag into a new design. OOo Draw does not seem to have this functionality. Is there a way to create and save some simple shapes and save them into a template? Or can you import shapes from Visio?
If this function is not supported within Draw, is there an OOo program that does support it? Or will there be in the future?
Otherwise a fantastic program.

[keme]

It looks like you're searching for the gallery. (You can make a template too, but in most cases the gallery is better suited for this.)

Click the "Framed image" icon on the Drawing toolbar (or menu item Tools - Gallery) to toggle display of the gallery.

Gallery objects are organized in themes. Make your own for misc. drawing objects, or use one of the existing themes.

When you have an object you want to drag into the gallery, click and hold for half a second before you start dragging, to enter a "secondary drag mode". You'll see that the contour markers disappear, and when you drag you get a generic object icon following the mouse pointer instead.

That mode is also necessary if you want to drag objects into a different layer, different slide, or into another window.

I have no experience with Visio, but if the shapes are standalone objects that can be pasted into other MS Office documents (without first being part of a Visio document), it should be possible to paste into Draw too (perhaps straight into the OOo gallery). I wouldn't expect custom connection points (glue points) to be retained, though...

[acknak]

FWIW, you can still put custom shapes in a separate Draw document, and simply drag or copy them into the drawing. The Gallery is a nice feature in theory, but I find it awkward in use.

[Phil]

There is no direct replacement for Visio, and I would not expect that there will be one in the near future.
Maybe Draw will get additional features such as the glue points, but it will not become a replacement that will be comparable to Visio.

Apart from the possibilities that were mentioned, there are none to import the shapes as such.

However, pasting of Visio objects as GDI Metafile works quite well (including connection lines).

Also, editing is possibly, but is quite limited: If you paste the objects to Draw, you can convert them to polygons or contours, however some objects may be distorted or changed.

KR, phil

[Big_Col]

Thanks for the help. I will try the Gallery function. As the diagrams I draw are fairly simple 2D objects with connecting lines it should suffice. As long as I can save the shapes I create it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to create them all again. I will research saving the Visio objects to Metafile and importing them, but it seems like it may be too much of a hassle for the few dozen shapes I need.
Thanks again to those who took the time to reply, much appreciated!

[chromium]

Maybe Draw will get additional features such as the glue points, but it will not become a replacement that will be comparable to Visio.

Look up "glue points" in draw help.

[Phil]

Look up "glue points" in draw help.

You are right - they actually already exist!

Wasn't aware of that!
However, I need to say that I am not an experienced Draw user.

Anyway, thanks chromium for the clarification!

BR, phil