visio style interface

I am looking into writing an application that has an interface similar to that of visio. the users select from a toolbox drop items on to a design pane and resize/move and type text in the item selected.

Can any one point me in the right direction.

Develop a class hierarchy that represents the items. Manage them in a list. Have them each draw itself.
You might want to make each its seperate window, but there are pros and cons to this approach.

Other than that, well, you need a concept developed...

Thanks CornyBee, that makes good sence.

Thanks