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How to: Save, Share, and Export Graph Documents

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You can share graph documents with other Visual Studio Ultimate and Visual Studio Premium users by saving, printing, or exporting them. To share graph documents outside Visual Studio Ultimate and Visual Studio Premium, you must export them.

You can share a graph in the following ways:

  • Save the graph as a Directed Graph Markup Language (.dgml) file.

    Use this format to share the graph with other Visual Studio users.

  • Export the graph as an image.

    Use this format to copy the graph into other applications, such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.

  • Export the graph as an XML Paper Specification (.xps) file.

    Use this format to export and view the graph in viewers that support XAML or XML, such as a Web browser like Internet Explorer.

Procedures

To save a graph as a DGML file

  1. On the File menu, click Save or Save As.

    -or-

    Right-click the document tab of the graph, and then click Save.

  2. In the Save File As dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save the graph.

    Note

    An error might occur when you save a graph that is in a modeling project or was copied from a modeling project to another location. Visual Studio displays the error, but creates the saved version anyway. For more information, see Troubleshooting.

  3. Name the graph, and then click Save.

    The graph document is saved as a .dgml file.

To save a graph when Architecture Explorer is open:

  1. Under the Architecture Explorer title bar, click Export DGML File.

  2. In the Save As dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save the file.

  3. Name the graph, make sure that the Save as type box is set to DGML Files (*.dgml), and then click Save.

To export the graph as an image

  1. Right-click the graph surface, and then click Copy Image.

  2. Paste the image into another application.

To export the graph as an XPS file

  1. Right-click the graph surface, and then click Save As XPS.

  2. In the Save As dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save the file.

  3. Name the graph, make sure that the Save as type box is set to XPS files (*.xps), and then click Save.

Troubleshooting

The following table lists potential issues and their resolutions:

Issue

Resolution

The following error might occur when you save a graph that is in a modeling project or was copied from a modeling project to another location:

"Cannot save fileName outside the project directory. Linked items are not supported."

Visual Studio displays the error, but creates the saved version anyway.

To avoid the error, create the graph outside the modeling project. You can then save it to the location that you want. Just copying the file to another location in the solution, and then trying to save it will not work.

See Also

Concepts

How to: Find Code Using Architecture Explorer

How to: Generate Dependency Graphs for .NET Code

Visualizing Existing Code