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Using the CALLTHIS function in Visio

Visio was the first non-Microsoft application to include VBA within it back in the mid-nineties. All of the desktop Microsoft Office applications currently include VBA, although Microsoft have been rumoured to want to replace it for many years, and now there is an alternative scripting option becoming available that is suitable for the web too.

Visio was acquired by Microsoft in 2000, and there are still many scenarios when it is useful to have VBA procedures available in Visio for the Desktop. These procedures can be created using the recorder, and then edited, or just created manually. Every Visio document can contain a VBA project, but it must be saved with the .vsdm extension for documents, .vssm extension for stencils, or .vstm extension for templates. The last letter, m, informs Windows that this file could contain macros, as opposed to the normal last letter x, which cannot. Even with this extension, users, or their IT department, may not enable the macros in Visio documents.

The CALLTHIS function in Visio can be used to run a procedure (sub-function) in a Visio Visual Basic document and pass through a reference to the shape that the function is called from. The Microsoft Docs provide an explanation of this useful technique, and it does describe some examples, but it does not show the VBA code that these examples need, nor does it show them working. It also does not make it clear that these procedures do not need to be in the Visio diagram document, but can be in a stencil that is open in the active Visio session. This is important because it means that VBA code can be centralised and distributed for use use on many other documents.

  • Using CALLTHIS with code in a document
  • Using CALLTHIS with code in a stencil
  • The VBA code behind
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Referencing Visio Shapes

Every Visio shape must have a unique name in the collection that it belongs to, and to ensure this, Visio automatically one using the master name or just “Sheet”, if not an instance of a master, followed by a period (“.”) and the ID. However, a user can rename a shape, and Visio will then also update the universal name (NameU) to be the same as the Name. If a user chooses to re-name a shape a second time, then thee universal name is not updated … it remains as the original name.

To demonstrate this I drew a rectangle, then named, and re-named it:

  • Shape is automatically named
  • The Name and NameU are the same
  • The Name and NameU are initially the same
  • The Name U remains unchnaged when Name changed again
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Play Backgammon with Visio

Still in lockdown on holiday, so I thought I would create a version of backgammon that can be played with Visio for the web. This was inspired by my original Visio tutor, the late David Edson, who created a Visio backgammon document which included macros. Macros are not available in Visio for the web, so I have created one where the dice can be shaken, the doubling cube changed, and the pieces reset, using nothing but ShapeSheet formulas.

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Creating PowerPoint Presentations automatically from Visio

Visio Plan 2 has a great, but flawed, feature called Slide Snippets, that can create PowerPoint presentations automatically from any number of titled rectangles, on any number of pages in a Visio document. However, it usually creates distorted images, and it does not automatically contain any descriptive text or hyperlinks. I have previously described how the distortions can be manually fixed (see Manual Fix for Slide Snippets in Visio Plan 2 ), but that is tedious, so I have written a Visio add-in, SS Plus, to not only fix the image, but also allow hyperlinks to be added to it, and to include descriptive text that can include bold, italics and hyperlinks … and can be automatically converted into SmartArt layouts!

  • Simply edit the ScreenTip in Visio
  • .. to create SmartArt with Hyperlinks in PowerPoint
  • Denote bold and italic text in Visio
  • .. to create richer text blocks in PowerPoint
  • Add a hyperlink to the Slide Snippet in Visio
  • … to become an image hyperlink in PowerPoint

If you want to read more then please go to SS Plus to learn how you can try it for free!

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Bi-directional Labels on Off-Page Grid References

I have previously written about using off-page references and labelled page grids in Visio, see A Page Grid with Labels and Page Grids and Off Page References, however a reader pointed out that the label on the Off-Page Reference shape is duplicated on both ends. This is not always ideal, however it is all I could do using just ShapeSheet formulas alone. So, in this article, I show how a VBA macro can enhance the reciprocal labels on the twin Off-Page Reference shapes, and they automatically update if either end is moved between grids. This is especially useful in electrical wiring diagrams, but the principal can be adapted for other purposes.

  • Follow Link to Second Page-C7
  • Follow to Third Page-D1
  • Follow Link to First Page-A4
  • Follow Link to First Page-C3
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Visio Data Visualizer Tips

The Microsoft Visio product team have released a great video introduction to the Visio Data Visualizer, but even that does not reveal all of its power. So, here are some tips about using the Microsoft Visio Data Visualizer add-in in Excel. Firstly, the add-in currently offers three different types of diagram, and each have a number of alternative layout arrangements.

  • Basic Flowchart – 4 layouts
  • Cross-Functional Flowchart – 5 layouts
  • Organization Chart – 5 layouts

Although these are the proposed diagram types, there is no reason why other types of data, such as network devices, cannot be used with any of them.

Sample Org Chart with Visio Data Visualizer in Excel
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