System and method for interactively linking data to shapes in a diagram

A computer-readable storage medium whose contents cause a graphical visualization program to link data from an external data source to a shape in a diagram by:

• displaying data from a first external data source as a first two dimensional table in a data grid of an interactive display;
• and
• responsive to a row or multiple rows of the first two dimensional table in the data grid of the interactive display being dragged onto a blank section of a drawing surface:
• creating an instance of a shape on the drawing surface for each row dragged onto the drawing surface;
• and
• for each shape created on the drawing surface, linking the shape to the row by, for each column in the row:
• responsive to determining that a property of the shape exists that has a name that is the same as a name of the column, populating the property with a value from the column;
• responsive to determining that a property of the shape does not exist that has a name that is the same as a name of the column, creating a new property having a name that is the same as the name of the column for the shape, and populating the new property with a value from the column.

A computer-implemented method in a graphical visualization program for linking a shape in a diagram to a row of data from a first data source, the method comprising:

• for each row of data from a first data source to be associated to a shape:
• removing any existing link between the shape and another row of data from the first data source;
• and
• for each active column in a row, populating a property of the shape having a name that is the same as a name of the active column.

A computer-implemented method in a graphical visualization program for refreshing a link between a shape in a diagram and a row of data from a data source, the method comprising:

• for each property of a shape populated by a link to a data source:
• if a column in a row in the data source that is associated to the property is removed, indicating that a value of the property is stale;
• and
• if the column in the row in the data source that is associated to the property is present and active, updating the value of the property with a value from the column.