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Shape Data

Published on March 28, 2025 by David Parker

Merging Linked Data from Similar Tables

I was recently asked how to link data from different tables but with similar column names to Visio shapes. In this case, each table has the same unique identifier, but some of the column names are the same. The problem is that the data linking matches the column name with the label of a Shape Data row label, so the shared columns were updated with the values from the last linked data recordset. In this article I present a simple way that this restriction can be overcome.

[Read more…] about Merging Linked Data from Similar Tables

Filed Under: Excel, External Data, Shape Data, Visio Tagged With: Excel, External Data, Link Data to Shapes, Shape Data, Visio

Published on March 5, 2025 by David Parker

Smart Radio Buttons and Check Boxes in Visio

A recent project requires an interactive tutorial within Microsoft Visio desktop where a lot of the questions need a single answer using radio buttons, or multiple-choice answers using check boxes. I thought that this would be a great use of the list containers capability because the questions and answers could be part of the container shape whilst the individual questions are presented as items in the list and automatically inheriting their particular question text from the containing list shape. So, this article provides these smart master shapes, and explains how they are built.

  • In Tutor mode, the Questions, Answers, Explanation and More Info can be edited
  • In normal mode, the Questions are presented unmarked and without explanation
  • Incorrect answers are marked with a red cross. An explanation and optional more info hyperlink is available
  • Correct answers are marked with a green tick. An explanation and optional more info hyperlink is available.
[Read more…] about Smart Radio Buttons and Check Boxes in Visio

Filed Under: Containers, Lists, Shape Data, Shape Design, ShapeSheet Formulas Tagged With: Shape Data, ShapeSheet, ShapeSheet Functions, Visio

Published on October 19, 2023 by David Parker

Using Visio Color by Value on Connectors

Data Graphics in Visio Plan 2 and Visio Professional is great, but it only enables us to use them with 2D shapes in Visio, i.e. not on connectors. So, what if you want to change the line colour of the connectors between the 2D shapes because of the data flowing between them? Well, it is possible … with a little preparation!

[Read more…] about Using Visio Color by Value on Connectors

Filed Under: Color, Data Graphics, External Data, Shape Data, ShapeSheet Formulas, VBA Tagged With: Data Graphics, Shape Data, ShapeSheet Functions, VBA

Published on April 28, 2023 by David Parker

Interactive Demographics of the European Union in Visio

I was recently contacted by a reader, Stanley M. Max (Towson University lecturer), who had started creating a Visio map of the 27 countries in the European Union in 2020, along with the demographics culled from Wikipedia. He wanted to know if the map and stats could be combined to make a more appealing presentation. Well, that prompted me to not only combine the data and country shapes, but to explore ways in which a presentation of the map can be made more interesting in Visio. So, I added data and hyperlinks to the shapes, and set up a page property for the selected country which automatically highlights the country shape, statistics, and header, to which I added flags. So, the user can either set the page country using the Shape Data window for the page, or context menu of each country, or simply by double-clicking.

  • The original Visio page
  • The original Excel table
  • The enhanced Visio page
  • A country selected for the page
  • Adding Slide Snippets
  • Exported to PowerPoint
  • Export to Word previews
  • Exported to Word
[Read more…] about Interactive Demographics of the European Union in Visio

Filed Under: Geographic, PowerPoint, Shape Data, ShapeSheet Formulas, Slide Snippets, SS Plus, Visio for Desktop, Visio for Web Tagged With: PowerPoint, Shape Data, Slide Snippets, Visio, word

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!

[Read more…] about Linking Data to Visio Shapes in Code

Filed Under: C#, Data Graphics, External Data, Shape Data Tagged With: Coding, External Data, Link Data to Shapes, Shape Data, Visio

Published on April 18, 2022 by David Parker

Update any Visio ShapeSheet cell with External Data

When Microsoft introduced a new way of linking external data to Visio shapes in 2007, I initially bemoaned the inability to update anything but Shape Data row values, unlike the old database add-on that I had been using for 10 years. The new method, though, has many advantages over the old way, not least that it is part of the Visio code library, for any Visio desktop user except the Standard edition.

The smartness of Visio shapes is derived from the formulas in the ShapeSheet that lies behind everything. There is a developer interface into this ShapeSheet in every desktop edition, but there is none in any of the web editions, even though the formulas, for the most part, work perfectly well (see my series of posts ShapeSheet Functions A-Z ).

The newer methodology of linking Visio shapes to data can also be used to refresh Visio diagrams automatically, even if the Visio document is not opened in the desktop edition. The Visio documents merely need to be stored in OneDrive, SharePoint (or Teams). This makes it suitable for solution development without assuming that every consumer has a desktop license. Indeed, the Visio Data Visualizer utilizes these newer external data recordsets embedded within the Visio document.

For my example, I used the Visio Sample Database that has been installed with Visio since 1997 for demonstrating the old database linking technology. It is an old style Access database (mdb), and can be found in a sub-folder of the Visio installation folder. I simply used the Data \ External Data \ Custom Import command to import the Bolts – Square Head table.

[Read more…] about Update any Visio ShapeSheet cell with External Data

Filed Under: External Data, Shape Data, ShapeSheet Formulas Tagged With: Shape Data, ShapeSheet Functions, Visio

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Recent posts

  • Co-authoring and Commenting with Visio Documents
  • Fixing dimensions of 2D shapes
  • Merging Linked Data from Similar Tables
  • Smart Radio Buttons and Check Boxes in Visio
  • Using Button Face Ids in Visio

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