Coding

Published on May 26, 2023 by David Parker

Counting glued and connected shapes in Visio

I got a surprise in one of my projects when I counted the shapes glued together using the Shape.GluedShapes(…) method … the sum of the filtered glued shapes just didn’t add up to the unfiltered count. So, I thought I should check the Shape.ConnectedShapes(…) method too … and there is a scenario where that has a similar result.

In the following diagram, I have different coloured squares with connection points of different types at the centre of each edge (as denoted by the connection type numbers), and one under a control point in the bottom left corner. I have glued the ends of coloured connector lines, statically (Red and Black) and dynamically (Green), and glued the Purple Square directly to the Orange Square. The Blue Square shape is glued to a connection point on the green dynamic connector.

7 Shapes glued & connected in a variety of ways

I then ran some code to get the count of glued and connected shapes … and noticed some apparent discrepancies…

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Published on November 2, 2022 by David Parker

Linking Data to Visio Shapes in Code

One of the most useful capabilities of Visio Professional and Visio Plan 2 is to link external data to shapes and have them refreshed by changes in the data source. So, many of my solutions involve writing code to make these links, and they are covered with some VBA examples in my book, Mastering Data Visualization with Microsoft Visio Professional 2016, but I mostly write C# code in VSTO add-ins, so I thought it would be useful to demonstrate how easy it is to create data links by dropping a shape, and by adding links to an existing shape. The book, by the way, is still relevant for the current Visio Professional and Visio Plan 2 editions!

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Published on July 6, 2022 by David Parker

A Visio List Shape is also a Container

Structured diagrams have been around in Microsoft Visio since 2010 and I have always known that list shapes are a specialized container shape, however it still came as a surprise to me recently that a list shape can simultaneously act as a container shape!

There are a few examples of both container and list shapes in the Microsoft provided content in all versions of Visio desktop, and even in the subscription Visio for web. The most popular of these is the Cross-Functional Flowchart template which contains container shapes (the Swimlane and Separator shapes) within list shapes (Swimlane List and Phase List), which are within another container shape (CFF Container).

In Visio desktop, the Insert / Diagram Parts / Container allows you to choose from a number of pre-built container shapes. There is no button to insert a list shape, but you can create your own or easily modify one of the pre-built ones to behave as a list shape.

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Published on June 4, 2021 by David Parker

Duplicating Visio Data Graphics

I was recently asked about switching between different Visio Data Graphics within a page, so I thought I should record a few short videos to explain how Visio Data Graphics work, how they can be edited and duplicated, and how to automate switching between them.

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Published on June 2, 2021 by David Parker

Adding Macro Ribbon Buttons to Visio Documents from a Stencil

I wrote a post a few years ago entitled How to Run VBA Macros from a Ribbon Button in Visio 2010, and was recently asked how to add the custom buttons to an existing tab. Well, it got me thinking that I don’t really like having any VBA code in my Visio diagram documents, so I thought I would explain how all the code can be in a macro-enabled stencil so that it can be used with many different diagram documents. It turned out to be a very easy modification….

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Published on March 5, 2021 by David Parker

Two Quote or Not Two Quote …

… that is the question!

I have known for some time that it is safer to copy and paste code from the web into Notepad or similar, before copying and pasting that into my own code. It is not only new line characters that can be different but also the double-quotes. I recently noticed this when I was writing my series on Visio ShapeSheet Functions A-Z because I make copious use of the EVALTEXT(…) function, so I investigated further and found that there are different double-quotes used when typing text into a Visio shape or typing into a Visio ShapeSheet cell!