Correcting the Text Control Handle on Visio Network Shapes

David Parker

2 years ago

There are literally thousands of master shapes in the stencils supplied with Microsoft Visio, so I guess that mistakes can creep in. One error that I have noticed is the inability of the default text control handle of many of the network shapes to actually move the text block horizontally.

It moves the vertical position without a problem, as can be seen in this short video:

The fix is straight forward enough. The TxtPinX cell is missing the formula =SETATREF(Controls.visSSTXT) , so this following VBA macro can fix that for an active document. It will need to be run after the problem master shapes have been first used in the document, but then they are fixed for ever….

Public Sub FixTheTextControlHandle()
On Error GoTo errHandler
Dim mst As Visio.Master
Dim mstCopy As Visio.Master
Dim shp As Visio.Shape
Dim curFormula As String

    'This is the referenced cell
    Const cll As String = "Controls.visSSTXT"
    'This is the missing formula
    Const frml As String = "SETATREF(Controls.visSSTXT)"
    
    For Each mst In ActiveDocument.Masters
        If mst.Shapes(1).CellExistsU(cll, Visio.VisExistsFlags.visExistsAnywhere) <> 0 Then
            curFormula = UCase(mst.Shapes(1).CellsU(cll).FormulaU)
            If Not UcurFormula = UCase(frml) And _
                Not InStr(curFormula, "GUARD") > 0 Then
                Set mstCopy = mst.Open
                Set shp = mstCopy.Shapes(1)
                shp.CellsU("TxtPinX").FormulaForceU = "=" & frml
                mstCopy.Close
                mst.MatchByName = True
            End If
        End If
    Next

exitHere:
    Exit Sub
errHandler:
    MsgBox Err.description, vbExclamation, "FixTheTextControlHandle"
    Resume exitHere
    Resume
End Sub

Then the control handle can move the text block horizontally too:

I have informed Microsoft of the bug, and hope they will fix it soon.

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