When I asked Dirk Meyer, Visio Technical's product manager, he indicated there would not be a similar upgrade for Visio Professional. To keep version numbers in sync, the upgrade was given a name, instead.

A similar thing had happened with Visio Standard last September: Visio Corp shipped an update called the "Business Bonus Pack." Everything in the Business Bonus Pack is included in the Plus upgrade, plus several other CAD-specific features. While the Bonus Business Pack is free, the Plus upgrade is US$149.

Enough of the semantics. Let's take a look at a bullet list what Plus gives you. I'll follow that up with more detailed notes about some of these new features.

• Project Explorer
• Process Engineering Solution
• MicroStation DGN Display
• Improved AutoCAD DWG Translator
• Bonus Business Pack

The Plus version makes Visio Technical 5 more than a piece of diagramming software. The Process Engineering Solution organizes groups drawings and data into "projects."

The Project view displays all the drawings that make up my projects. A preview window lets me see the drawing before loading it. Double-click a drawing name to load it.

The Component view displays the names of all shape in all drawings that make up the project. The shapes are sorted by stencil name. Double-click a shape name and Visio highlight's the shape, so that I can find it in the drawing. Similarly, selecting a shape in the drawing highlights its name in the Component view. Right-click a shape name to display a short-cut menu with these options:

• Go to Shape. Same effect as double-clicking the shape name.
• Edit Datashape. Displays a new window, which contains a "data sheet". This is a form that lists the specifications of the shape. I can edit the data in the sheet, which is stored in an Access database file. What's cool is when I select an item with units, a drop list box appears, which lets me select from standard units, such as cubic feet per minute.
• Edit Data Table. Displays a dialog box that shows all the data stored in the database file about the shape. I can view and change the data.

Some other new process engineering features include:

• Association displays a red handle on shapes that have an association, such as valves on a pipe. Components can be made to inherit specs; for example, valves automatically take on the diameter of the pipe they are dropped on.
• Assembly groups shapes together like a Group, except that I can continue to work with individual shapes within the assembly. I can only assemble shapes that are specific to process engineering.
• Tags is the new automatic numbering system for shapes. As each shape is added to the drawing, it takes on the next, consecutive number. I can define the numbering format.
• Forms are things like the datashapes mentioned earlier, as well as parts lists and diagrams. I can customize the forms to match my corporate standards.
• Shape Conversion Wizard converts blocks from IntelliCAD into shapes that behave like the other process engineering shapes.

In addition, valves (for example) automatically orient themselves on along a pipe.

You can try out a sample process engineering project by looking in the \Visio Technical\Samples\Industrial Process\Process Engineering folder, then the double-click Sample Project.Vsd drawing filename.

The DGN translator is hidden away in Tools > Macro > Visio Extras > Insert MicroStation File. The sample drawings that I loaded into Visio looked pretty good; I couldn't find any overt errors. I can change the display properties of the DGN file: right-click and select MicroStation Object > Properties. The tabbed dialog box lets me change to different views (MicroStation supports up to eight views per drawing) and layers (called "levels" in MicroStation, which allows a maximum of 63 layers per drawing), as well as the scale. Change an option, then click the Apply button to see the effect.

I tested the updated AutoCAD DWG translator with my test drawing, called "R14-Test.Dwg", which contains every object known to AutoCAD. While translation is improved, it is still not perfect. Recall that Visio can import a CAD drawing in two ways: (1) by displaying a non-editable version; or (2) translating the drawing into editable shapes. The first method is faster and more accurate.

Still, Visio Plus fails to display:

• 2D region.
• 3D ACIS solid.
• Image object.
• OLE image.
• Proxy (proprietary object).
• Draw order is not maintained.

The following objects are displayed incorrectly:

• MText stacked fractions are unstacked; text not colored
• Geometric tolerance: symbols missing
• BHatch solid fill: displayed as horizontal lines
• Round island in BHatch fill displayed as a hexagon
• Complex linetypes: symbols missing
• TrueType fonts: substituted with CAD vector fonts
• Some text justifications not maintained, such as fit and aligned
• Ray and Xline are not infinite

 When the test drawing is translated into Visio shapes, many more errors are made. The following AutoCAD objects are not displayed:

• Point
• Shape
• 3D polyline, 3D face, 3D mesh, and polymesh
• 2D region and 3D ACIS objects
• Overscore and underscore for text
• Text styles, such as oblique angle, width factor, vertical, backwards and upside down text
• Image object
• OLE image
• Proxy (proprietary object)
• Draw order is not maintained
• Leader
• Geometric tolerance
• Ellipse
• Multiline
• Xref

The following AutoCAD objects are displayed incorrectly:

• Associative dimensions have oversize arrowheads and undersized text
• Spline polylines have uniform width
• All fonts (CAD vector and TrueType) are displayed as mismatched Arial or Times New Roman TrueType fonts
• %%%% control codes for text
• No linetype patterns are preserved
• MText stacked fractions are unstacked; text not colored
• Ray and Xline are not infinite
• Attribute text is plain text

The Pack contains an introductory tour to Visio; a global color scheme system that lets me update all formats of shapes in a drawing, sort of like a super style; network shapes that look 3D via shading and isometrics; a new Organizational Chart Solution; a new Calendar Wizard that automatically generates monthly calendar pages; and improved timelines.

Some operations are slow, even on my 400MHz Pentium II with 64MB RAM.

For those who need to access MicroStation design files, Plus is a must-have upgrade. For those who work with structured drawings, 5.0 Plus now gives you a way to exert greater control over an entire project.