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May 18th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
I have a friend who doesn’t have visio but who needs to be able to edit a document I currently have in visio format. So I want to convert a visio flowchart into ether microsoft word, excel, or powerpoint so its editable there. I understand that flowcharting capabilities in word (the drawing toolbar) are not as robust, but I was wondering if there was a way to convert.
Thanks,
Brian
May 19th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Hello, Visio Guy!
thank you for your site and your work
themes i d like to see: how to automate the process of drawing all types of diagramm as add-on Organisational Chart does. For example: you make excel file to input in Visio and code draws diagram, connect shapes in the order you define in excel table (it works in Organizational chart - you can define the order of connection, another words, hierarchy, but orgchart add-on cant be modified for my needs:(
another theme: you drew a diagram and used a stencil. and now you d like to replace shapes on diagramms by another shapes from another stensils in the same order (it works in Organisational Chart - there you define the name of shape: manager, vacancy, executive etc.)
best regards, ivan
Russia:)
June 14th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Can you please help me to solve this:
I have an excel file. How can I import data from this file into shapes in which each shape will display data of each cell of excel file.
For example:
Data in Excel file:
Unique_ID Name Class
1 AA 2
Any three shapes in a drawing.
How can I display “1″ in shape 1, “AA” in shape 2 and “2″ in shape 3 automatically? Can you please suggestion some ways? Please answer ASAP
Thanks and Best regards
June 21st, 2007 at 5:24 am
Hi.
Do you know of any applications for Visio that can work with a bluetooth device, like the Disto A6, to capture laser measurements via bluetooth and start drawing right in Visio? We are looking for some field applications and would like to buy vs build if something is already out there.
Thanks!
June 30th, 2007 at 2:28 am
Very informative website,
I’ve been looking everywhere for some ideas on how to create a smart master shape for our sales guys.
I need a rectangle with rows of text on the inside of the left and right side of the rectangle.
So if the rectangle represents a switcher with inputs and outputs, all labelled. I need the user to be able to specify how many inputs and outputs and what the text labels for each would read.
Oh, I also need a connection point centered on each label directly on the edge of the rectangle so I can show a wiring diagram.
I cannot find anything like this anywhere.
Please help
Chuck.
July 2nd, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Chris,
I was reading an article “Wired Automation in Visio” by David Edson and he refers to a Visio wiring diagram.zip that ends up being a dead ftp link. This diagram would be very useful to me. How can I get a copy?
article located here :http://www.design-drawing.com/visio/dewiring.htm
Thank you,
Chuck M
July 4th, 2007 at 6:46 am
Hi Chuck,
I see the article, and when I click on the link, I get a username/password dialog. So it seems to be a bit messed up. I think I know which demo that was and have uploaded it to this address:
http://www.visguy.com/downloads/WiringDiagram.zip
Hope this works for you!
- Chris
July 18th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Hi Visio Guy,
I’m having the same problem of non working hyperlinks but with visio 2007. And your correction tool is not working with it at all and I tried a lot of work arounds and all failed.. Would you please help me.. thx
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Chris,
This site provides valuable information for users that are not quite developers, but need to perform complex and advance operations. Keep up the good work.
I would like to apply a gradient to text in Visio 2003, but my many attempts have not met with success. Perhaps this capability is beyond the native capabilities of Visio. I have seen examples of gradient application to text backgrounds, but never to the text itself.
Thanks in advance for your assistance,
Steve S
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Hi Steve S,
Visio doesn’t support gradient fills inside of text, unfortunately. The usual work-around is to import WordArt objects. You can create WordArt inside of Word, Excel or PowerPoint, I believe. I think it’s located under an italic/3D “A” icon, usually located on one of the toolbars that lives at the bottom of the window.
Cheers,
Chris
August 12th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
I’m sure this task I’d like to do is incredibly easy but I haven’t found the right combination of prods to get me there.
What I want is a shape that displays the date on which it was dragged into the drawing. The date/time fields cause automatic changes, I don’t want this thing to change once it’s been added to the drawing.
Great site. Thanks for your efforts.
August 13th, 2007 at 6:25 am
Hi DGD,
You can do this with a little bit of ShapeSheet trickery: Create a user-cell or custom-property (Shape Data field) to hold the “Drop Date”, for instance:
User.dropDate = NOW()
Then, in the Events.EventDrop cell, enter this formula:
=SETF(GetRef(User.dropDate),User.dropDate)+SETF(”EventDrop”,”")
When you drop the shape, the EventDrop cell will write the value of the User.dropDate cell over the formula, so you won’t have a NOW() function that keeps updating.
The last bit of the formula; + SETF(”EventDrop”,”"), erases the formula in the EventDrop cell, so that copies of your shape won’t get a new drop date.
Remove this portion of the formula if you want the functionality to be there even for shapes that get copied.
- Chris
August 13th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Thanks Chris, works great!
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:21 am
Hello,
I haven’t come across any article that can show how to attach a macro to a custom menu item.
I am trying to do that. Is this possible ?
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Hi,
I really like the site. I use Visio all the time and you have some great tips.
I recently purchased 2007 and I’ve run into an issue: You can’t change Line Width on dedfault shapes anymore (You’re stuck with “3”). In 2003 you could change line width, fill etc. on the default shapes, but I have found that does not work in 2007. Even if you change the properties in Shape Sheet it displays the correct line width, but the shape does not reflect the change. The only work around i have found is to move over shapes from 2003. Do you have any other ideas?
Robert
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:01 am
Hi Robert,
I wonder if your LineWeight issue has to do with the new Theme feature? I noticed that if you apply a Theme Effect to, say, Flowchart shapes, then manual changes to the LineWeight don’t show up. If you revert to a Theme Effect of “None”, then your manual changes show.
If you look in the ShapeSheet, in the Line Format section, you’ll see formulas that look like this:
LineWeight = THEME(”LineWeight”)+THEMERESTORE(3.12 pt)
Is this what you’re seeing? Which templates/shapes are you using?
- Chris
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Unfortunately I’m using V Professional at work and I don’t have the ability to look at the ShapeSheet properties for “Shapes” only the page. I had the same LineWeight problem with my MSDN version at home but don’t have it available to try your theme fix.
The Shapes I’m having the problem with are in the Detailed Network template. I can’t get the “Server” line weight to change form 3. Actually I can’t get any of the shapes (besides basic annotations, boxes, lines, etc.) in the template to change. I draw some pretty small/detailed diagrams and the line weight is way too thick when you shrink the shape.
If you think of something let me know…otherwise I’ll use the 2003 shapes.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Robert,
Those shapes seem to have LineWeight protected, via a GUARD formula in the ShapeSheet. If you are comfortable running VBA (or have permissions!), this code snippet will allow you to reduce the lineweights of all shapes on a page, or all masters in a document to ZERO. LineWeight = 0 in Visio is very nice for detailed drawings. It simply draws the thinnest possible line (it does NOT make the line disappear!)
Just hit Alt+F11 to get into the VBA editor, and paste the code below into the editor. Then, just place your cursor in either the sub: ReduceLineWeightsForLocalMasters, or ReduceLineWeightsForShapesOnpage and press F5.
The actions are undo-able, so you can get rid of the changes. ReduceLineWeightsForShapesOnpage simply edits all shapes on the active page. ReduceLineWeightsForLocalMasters edits the masters that are in the Document Stencil, so all instances of all shapes will be changed (including non-network shapes!)
Maybe this will get you going on the right track,
- Chris
The code:
Sub ReduceLineWeightsForLocalMasters()
Dim idScope As Long
idScope = Visio.Application.BeginUndoScope(”Reduce LineWeights for All Local Masters”)
Dim mst As Visio.Master
Dim shp As Visio.Shape
For Each mst In ActiveDocument.Masters
Call m_reduceLineWeightForMaster(mst)
Next
Call Visio.Application.EndUndoScope(idScope, True)
End Sub
Sub ReduceLineWeightsForShapesOnpage()
Dim idScope As Long
idScope = Visio.Application.BeginUndoScope(”Reduce LineWeights for All Shapes on Active Page”)
Dim shp As Visio.Shape
For Each shp In ActivePage.Shapes
Call m_reduceLineWeightForShape(shp)
Next
Call Visio.Application.EndUndoScope(idScope, True)
End Sub
Private Sub m_reduceLineWeightForShape(visShp As Visio.Shape)
visShp.CellsU(”LineWeight”).ResultIUForce = 0
If visShp.Shapes.Count > 0 Then
Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 To visShp.Shapes.Count
Call m_reduceLineWeightForShape(visShp.Shapes(i))
Next i
End If
End Sub
Private Sub m_reduceLineWeightForMaster(visMst As Visio.Master)
Dim visMstCopy As Visio.Master
Dim shp As Visio.Shape
Set visMstCopy = visMst.Open
Set shp = visMstCopy.Shapes(1)
Call m_reduceLineWeightForShape(shp)
visMstCopy.Close
Set shp = Nothing
Set visMstCopy = Nothing
End Sub
August 24th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
I was hoping you could E-mail me with a little advice. I put together a number of custom shapes that I think would be useful to anyone who works with bands, theaters, stages, etc.. (see my site for examples) I was thinking of selling collections of these custom shapes, but after doing some research, I see so few collections of shapes for sale. Maybe I am looking the wrong place, or there is just no market for such things. What is your experience? Many thanks.
August 24th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Wow…Thanks for the tip and code. I’ll try it out tonight, Thanks!
August 25th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Caught me in a good mood
- Chris
September 19th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I have an issue that I bet you can help me with. Whenever I import a graphic bitmap into Visio, it’s always softened and fuzzy. This happens to any PNG or GIF or other bitmap I import via Insert > Picture > From File…
Is there a way to make Visio not soften my gfx?
Thanks,
Derek
September 27th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I’m using Visio to prototype webpages. I’m able to use the hyperlink function satisfactorally, but I have an additional need to create drop-down menus, and text fields that allow a user to input data (there does not need to be a backend on this).
Is there an existing too, or can you point me in the right direction as to a way to develop this function on my own? Thanks!
October 9th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Chris et al - Do you know if Visio has any capability to freeze a column of information as the user moves to the right or left in a process flow diagram with swim lanes. It would be helpful to be able to do this on a long process flow chart similar to the way an Excel spreadsheet allows you to freeze rows or columns.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Hey Gary,
No “Freeze Panes” that I can think of off-hand, but you can open a second window onto the same drawing page…so with some clever tiling.
With a bit of code and automation you could get one window to scroll with another and build something more elegant, either in Visio or with the Visio Active X control. Maybe a bit too much of an effort, though.
- Chris
October 11th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Hi,
Re: Visio 2003
I’ve created an organisational chart through importing a table from an Access db.
The table has a ParentID field which Visio has used to create the chart and the relationship between shapes.
I can refresh the chart and it will update the information of existing shapes within the chart.
If I was to add or delete new records to the table in the Access db, would it be possible for Visio to remove or insert new shapes into the existing chart automatically?
I’ve tried refreshing the chart after removing a record in the DB, but that only results in an error message which states: ‘cannot find linked record in database table for shape…’
Thanks,
Nadeem
October 25th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I’ve been trying to use Visio 2003 to draw up some rack diagrams for our equipment. I’ve been able to work with the standard stencils, but there is one piece of functionality which seems to be missing, and I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on how it could be done. Specifically when using the standard Rack or Cabinet shapes, there appears to be no way to label the U numbers at the side of the rack. I understand that the drawing will show the height of various devices, but I’d like to see the actual location numbers for the devices instead. Can this be done without too much trouble?
Thanks,
Troy
October 25th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Hi Troy,
The Rack Unit Dimension Line might help you!
http://www.visguy.com/2007/04/01/rack-unit-dimension-line/
October 29th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Is there any way to turn a text to perspective shape in vision 2003?
Please reply me to mailto:basheerpt@alwefag.com
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Hi,
I’m trying to create hyperlinks automatically based on the text of a shape.
I’ve figured out how to extract the text I’m after with the following code.
Dim VsoSelect As Visio.Selection
Dim VsoShape As Visio.Shape
Set VsoSelect = Visio.ActiveWindow.Selection
If VsoSelect.Count > 0 Then
For Each VsoShape In VsoSelect
LongName = VsoShape.Text
ShortName = Right(LongName, 11)
Check = Left(Right(ShortName, 7), 1)
If Check = “-” Then
ShortName = Right(LongName, 10)
End If
Next VsoShape
Else
MsgBox “You Must Have Something Selected”
End If
What I’m stuggling with is how to insert that as a relative hyperlink.
Or perhaps there’s an easier way that I’ve missed?
November 5th, 2007 at 5:35 am
Hello Visio Guy,
I have spent countless fruitless hours searching for answers to the following questions, and I suspect what I want to do can’t be done in Visio. I’d be delighted if you prove me wrong.
1. Does Visio have a way to nudge text using the keyboard, without moving the shape containing the text?
2. Is it possible to align text on a line with text on another line?
3. Is there a way to evenly distribute connection points on a shape?
I’m using Viso 2003 SP2.
Thanks,
YossiD
November 6th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Yo YossiD,
1. There’s no nudge feature for text, but the arrow keys do nudge the shapes. But if your shape only contains text, then I suppose you could call it “nudging the text”…BTW, you can use Shift+Arrow and Ctrl+Arrow to reduce the size of the nudging.
2. There’s no built-in feature to align text from two different shapes, which is what I think you are asking for. But Visio has a full automation model, so you could write code to analyze shapes and tweak their text locations.
3. Again, you could distribute connection points on a shape using code. But when you add connection points to a shape using the UI tools, they are positioned proportionally by default, so if you space them equally, your distribution will remain the same. If you wanted to do something like: “add 10 points to this shape, distributed horizontally”, then code is the way to go.
You can play with code and Visio using the built in VBA editor. Just hit Alt+F11 if VB is something you’re comfortable with!
Hope this helps,
- Chris
November 6th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Adam…hyperlinks,
Have a look at the VBA/developer reference help for the Address property of the Hyperlink object. It says this:
“Setting the Address property for a Hyperlink object is equivalent to entering information in the Address box in the Hyperlinks dialog box (Insert menu), or setting the result of the Address cell in the shape’s Hyperlink.name row in the ShapeSheet window.
The Address property value can be a DOS, UNC, or URL path, for example, “driveletter”:\”foldername”\”drawingname”, \\”servername”\”foldername”\”drawingname”, or http://address, respectively.
If the Address property is relative, for example, “..\”drawingname”", it is composed against the HyperlinkBase property, if supplied, or the hyperlink’s document path. If the document is not saved, the hyperlink is undefined.
If the Address property is empty, you can assume the address points to a page in the document that contains the page. In this case, the SubAddress property contains the name of the drawing page to which the hyperlink navigates.”
You will find the Hyperlink Base field under File > Properties, at the bottom of the dialog. HyperlinkBase is also, of course, a property of Document objects.
Hopefully this will help get you further along!
- Chris
November 8th, 2007 at 12:03 am
Hi there,
I have a query which I am hoping you can help me with. I have been asked to build a basic process flow in VISIO which will be used by project managers in our division. We want to make it as simple as possible and the tasks within the flow are basically a checklist for them to ensure they have completed the steps required. We want to make it visually easy for them to track and was thinking for each task (shape) to have a starting point of “NOT STARTED” and coloured red. We want them to be able to either select NOT STARTED, IN PROGRESS or COMPLETED and have a correspond colour to that shape depending on what they select. (eg: red, green, yellow).
My GM wants to present this to the powers above and we would like to have this up and running in a couple of weeks. My skills are so basic, that the most advanced thing i can do is add a hyperlink. So I was wondering if there is a kind soul out there that can help me out. I know visually what i want, and from reading the different visio blogs etc. (ie: visio guys’ checkbox - box of contents) that it must be possible?
November 8th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Hi !
I hope you can help me on this :
I want to create a shape with some basic Custom Properties that can’t be deleted (just edited) and also give the possibility to add other Properties that can be deleted. The “LockCustProp” cell locks all the properties, is there a possibility to protect only a subset of the Properties ?
November 8th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
To VISIO DUMMY :
I’m not an advanced user of visio, but I think it’s possible :
Edit your Master-Shape, then Right-Click on the Shape, “Data”, “Add Data Graphic” then add a “Colour on Value” data graphic. Then you can add the values your property can have (NOT STARTED, IN PROGRESS and COMPLETED) and assign colour to these values.
Hope it can help you !
November 16th, 2007 at 1:45 am
Have you found any stencils for railroad track layouts? There is only 1 curved track section that I can not adjust the radius of, also any crossover ones? I’ve look on some model railroad sites, no luck
thanks
November 16th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Hey Jeff19,
I found these Visio train track layout shapes on Stan’s Trains website.
Maybe they will get you started!
- Chris
November 19th, 2007 at 3:32 am
Hi Visio Guy
I am creating stencils & templates which will be released to our Firm. I have created new stencils with our company’s look and feel, some stencils are interactive eg, bar chart you can choose how many bars by right+click (taken & formatted from Visio’s chart stencil). Question: why is it interactive on my laptop, yet when I save these stencils to my test user c:\program files\…\visio11\1033 and my tester opens up the *.VST the customised stencils are there, yet not interactive? Is there another directory it is saving/searching to that i don’t know about?
On another matter, is there any way of changing the pooky green background of the stencils? Or am I asking too much?
November 19th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Hi Chris,
I have a question for you. Could Visio be used for techncial fashion drawings? Are there templates, stencils available?
Thanks,
Gina
November 19th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Hi Chris,
Just a quick query. Is it possible to use Visio to create techncial fashion drawings? Are there templates and stencils available? Has this been done before?
Thanks,
gina
November 19th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
[…] recently asked; “Is it possible to use Visio to create technical fashion drawings? Are there templates and […]
November 19th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Hi Gina,
You’ve inspired a new article! Have a look at: Visio For Fashion Design?
Cheers,
Chris
November 20th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Hello Chris,
Thanks for your reply to my previous queries. Of course I’d rather Visio had built-in ways to do what I want, but at least now I can stop looking.
Here’s another one.
In Word, the Alt key defeats the snap feature when using the mouse to move things (margins, tabs, table cell borders, text box sizes, etc.). Is there a similar way to temporarily turn the snap feature off in Visio? If not (as I suspect) could one write some kind of global macro to do that?
Happy Thanksgiving!
YossiD
November 28th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Chris,
Back in 1999 David Edson put an article on MSDN about using VBA to create Intelligent Connections at http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/dnarvisio/html/wiringdiagrams.asp.
In the article, he says, “Chris Roth, a brilliant team member of mine at Visio, created the sample wiring diagram that is the core of this article.”
I completely agree with him, this is an amazing example. Have you done any more work along these lines, or can you provide additional insight into how I could incorporate this into my drawings?
Best Regards,
Joe Mako
November 28th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Joe,
Thanks for the nice words!
And thanks for pointing to the MSDN link — I was going to re-publish this article on Visio Guy, because I only knew of one other link, which was broken. Nice to see the example is alive and well out on the web.
I was thinking writing an article the describes how to get two text-blocks on a single connector.
Also, if you are into schematic wiring diagrams, the folks over at d-Tools have products that do this very well. But their stuff is targeted specifically for system installers (A/V, home entertainment systems, board rooms, virtual meeting centers, etc.)
Cheers,
- Chris
November 28th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Chris,
Two text-blocks on a single connector is exactly what I am trying to do today. (should that take me a full day to figure out?)
Also, because of your work I was able to find:
Developing Microsoft Visio Solutions
There is so much free info at MSDN, the hard part is finding it.
Have you written any books on Visio? Or can you recommend any book for taking advantage of VBA and ShapeSheet?
I have showed your Intelligent Connections example to a few people and they see it as highly useful. Once I am able to wrap my head around what you did, I’ll use it on all my future diagrams that include connections that move over time. Maybe I’ll be able to generate a diagram with appropriate ShapeSheet data pragmatically from a table. Then all I’ll have to do is connect the dots so the link data will fill in using your code.
There very well may be software out there that does what I want, but there is joy in discovering how to do things with the software that you have.
Best Regards,
Joe Mako
November 30th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Hi Joe,
I haven’t written any books, but am contemplating making shorter, targeted e-books sometime soon.
There is one book that I really like, and have reviewed on this site. Have a look at this post: Book review: Visualizing Information with Microsoft Office Visio 2007
Ciao,
Chris
December 4th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Chris,
I’m new to VBA & macros & I need to create a small macro to run a find/replace function.
I’ve created a stencil set for electrical schematics with the text “w#” on each of my wires.
I would like to run a looped macro that finds “w#” in the shape text and replace with a number (n).
Once the number has been replaced, n increments by 1, and the loop repeats. This would then search the whole document & replace all instances of “w#” with dedicated numbers.
I have run the find replace function via macro recorder but this doesn’t appear to give me all the necessary code I need(below). I do not know how to find the itemID that contains the required text and the macro recorder doesn’t show the code for find/replace!
Sub Macro2()
Dim vsoCharacters1 As Visio.Characters
Set vsoCharacters1 = Application.ActiveWindow.Page.Shapes.ItemFromID(199).Characters
vsoCharacters1.Begin = 0
vsoCharacters1.End = 2
vsoCharacters1.Text = “text”
End Sub
This will replace the text in shape 199 & replace with “text”.
Thanks for any help in advance.
Nice site with some useful info.
regards,
Wayne.
December 4th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Hi Wayne!
Try this bit of code - hopefully it is self-explanatory enough:
Dim shp as Visio.Shape
dim iCt as integer
iCt = 1
For each shp in Visio.ActivePage.Shapes
if instr(1, shp.text, “w#”, vbTextCompare) > 0 then
shp.text = replace(shp.text, “w#”, Cstr(iCt))
iCt = iCt + 1
end if
Next shp
Note: if you have grouped your shapes, this will not dive-down into the groups. In that case, you’ll have to recurse through the sub-shapes of each group. These are simply obtained via shp.Shapes.Item…
Hope this gets you started,
- Chris
December 6th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Chris,
Thanks for the quick reply.
I will hopefully be implementing this before Xmas.
If all goes well I will post the macro/script so it can be used on this site.
Many thanks,
Wayne.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I am using the “save as Web page” feature in visio 2003.
After I publish it and OK the Active X control boxes, I would like the hyperlinks to show up in the same frame (Left - table of contents, Right - my picture). I want it on the right.
Currently, it opens it in the same window and i have to use back button of browser. If i can put it on the right frame, then users can use the TOC on left frame to navigate.
please help. thanks
Sam
January 8th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Can you try to publish some info about using custom shapes (ie. not geometry) in an icon set? The MSDN Data Graphic article seems to suggest it is possible, yet I have only seen it done with either geometry or images.
Your site is great and appreciated very much
Cheers
Nathan
January 9th, 2008 at 7:55 am
hi
i wana ask is there a way to click on the shape so it will expand ??
please help me
January 14th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Hi Noor,
Do you want a shape to show some hidden details when you click on it, then collapse back to the “simple state” when you click on it again?
- Chris
January 14th, 2008 at 4:02 am
hi sir,
first I would like to thank you,
no sir when i click on the shape it should open another organization chart or expand the current chart when i click again the shapes collapse
please it is urgent sir
Regard’s
January 16th, 2008 at 2:10 am
Hi Chris,
Absolutely love this website! Thanks for all the hard work and the freebies…!
Perhaps you may be able to point me in the right direction here - I am looking for a Visio 2003/2007 shape for a web browser interface (UI) for IE7. Just need an “empty” browser window with toolbar, menu and address space. Woudl love it if I can modify the text in the address space to put in my own URLs.
Don’t need any other browser/web prototyping elements - just the bare-bones resizeable browser UI.
Appresiate any assistance.
Best regards
January 17th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Using Visio 2003 SP3…
No problem when I search for text strings associated with normal text blocks in my drawings. However, can Visio search through Excel objects I have placed in the drawing? No matter what I’ve tried, my searches for items which are in Excel objects don’t find anything.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Hi Tim,
It is possible, via programming code to get inside of a “foreign object”, like an embedded Excel spreadsheet. For instance, if you selected your spreadsheet “shape”, you could get to it via:
Visio.ActiveWindow.Selection(1).Object
Maybe this will get you started?
- Chris
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Hey Chris, I was asked by our local marketing team is there is a BINGO card template available for Visio. Hope your are well
Best Regards,
-Matt-
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
[…] Matt R asked about a Visio Bingo Template for his marketing team. I thought to myself, “Now there’s a mission-critical application of […]
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Hey Matt,
Check out this article: Visio Bingo Template
- Chris
January 24th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Does anyone know if there is a 4-sided polygon shape where you can adjust the angles of two opposing sides of the polygon (independently and in concert with each other)? Seems like the only polygon shapes I can find allow for stretching width and/or height only. I want to be able to stretch width or height as well, but also adjust the angles of two opposing sides (which would still result in the expansion or contraction of the length of the [front]side opposite the [back] side where the two edges are pivoting).
January 31st, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Hi I downloaded the Fujitsu siemens stencils from visiocafe.com. Unlike the rack-mounted-equipment server drawings (standard set with Visio 2003 ) or the HP ones from Visio café, I cant get them to “snap” onto a rack or I cant figure out of to put formulae in so that when I change the U size, the graphic works with it. So basically want to great my own servers which snap to a rack. Can any one help this is driving me nuts!
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I am looking for templates and tutorials related to using Visio 2007 Pro for web site concept development as part of RFQ package sent out to web developers. Not much in the way of help explaing the web site concept stencils within Visio 2007 Pro.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I am trying to create a smart shape similar to the “door” shape that comes with Visio. The one thing I can’t figure out is that when I click on a door (select it), the width magically appears and when I click away, the width disappears. It is not done with a field in the text block because I can add other text to the door and it is not affected. Any ideas as to how this is done?
Thanks for a great site!
February 6th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Hi Jim,
The shapes have some special User-defined cells in their ShapeSheets (ie: User.ShapeClass, User.ShapeType) that have values which signal an add-on to flip the value of User.visBESelected to show or hide the shape text. When a user select the shape, a Plan-related add-on checks the shape type and flips the value of User.visBESelected.
A sub-shape of the door then holds the text that you see. Its visibility refers to the User.visBESelected value. Because it is a sub-shape of the door, you have to open the door’s group to find it.
- Chris
February 7th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Subject : Creating .vdx file outside visio
hi,
i need ur help.
I need to create visio diagrams outside the visio using visio schema XML tags.
Actually, my application creates diagrams which i need to export to visio format,
so i want to write that data related to our application diagram into XML file which wil be read directly by MS visio.
It wil gr8 help,if u come across any idea.
Thank u
February 7th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Hi Narenda,
For starters, you might have a look at the materials from my 2006 Visio Conference presentation on the Visio xml format:
Visio and Xml Conference Resources
Cheers,
- Chris
February 12th, 2008 at 6:16 am
hey Chris,
thanx 4 ur reply.
I really didnt understand how to manually create XML file which i’l be renaming to .vdx & then i’l be viewing my drawing in visio. Is it possible?
my application uses some data abt some components & accd to that i need to generate diagram connecting those components. Also, i use JAVA as development language. So, all i need to ask is that,whether can i somehow write some API which wil generate the diagram connecting the components which i want to at run time,without using visio. i.e. can i write XML tags specified by XML schema of visio? is it posssible to diagrams outside visio using XML schema of visio?
I tried to look at the XML tags created for very simple diagram,but its too big code. Even only for the 2 component connecting each other,visio generates lots of lines of code(i mean few thousands of LOC),so is it realy possible for me to write such tags outside visio?
waiting for ur valueable reply.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Hi chris,
I was wondering if I can name the two connector points of a line, I have two circles connected together but each end of the line needs a different name?
any ideas?
using vba in visio
Lexi
February 13th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Hey Narendra,
Don’t know if you downloaded the stuff from the link I sent you earlier. The topic is a bit complicated, so I can’t give you a complete answer at this time.
What I found worked well was to start with a base template that had masters already loaded in it. Save this as a .vdx file and re-use it as your “starting xml blob” Then you only need to insert the bare minimum of xml for shapes dropped on a page — PinX, PinY positions, perhaps Text for each shape, etc. You don’t have to re-create ALL of the xml for each shape. Just the values/cells that change from the master.
Hope this helps,
- Chris
February 13th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Hi Lexi,
Do you want a text-label on each end of the connector?
- Chris
February 13th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Hello, Chris! Thanks for your helpful site. I have what I hope is a simple question. Forgive me if this has been elsewhere covered.
I’ve created a set of custom shapes. Of these shapes, several are intended for add’l manipulation (using shape handles to get them just right for the given diagram).
I want to create a stencil for the shapes but I find the shape handles don’t appear when the shape is pulled from a stencil.
Is there any way to remedy this?
Thanks in advance for your assistance. JMc
February 13th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Hi Jonathan,
I think you’re talking about the small green dots that appear when you let the mouse hover over a shape? These let you edit the shape’s vertex.
The thinking is that Visio developers will manipulate vertices, then create a less-editable master for end-user consumption. End-users, so the theory goes, won’t want to manipulate vertices–unless they explicitly grab the line or pencil tool from the Drawing toolbar.
So “raw” shapes have the auto-vertex-edit feature, but once a shape becomes a master, the feature goes away–to “protect” the end-user.
You might investigate adding control handles to your shape to allow end-users to directly manipulate vertices in a way that you, as designer, can better control. You can see how geometry gets hooked to control handles in this article:
Off-center Radial Fill Effect
February 27th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Hi Chis,
your site is more than helpful and there is no other like that. Actually i have a problem with network drawings in Visio. I am looking for a way to link data from an embedded Excel table to a master shape in a stencil. The purpose of that is that i can use a network bar for example from that exists as a master on the document stencil and the network IP and subnet mask shown as text or customer properties, will change for the master and all instances as soon as i change the data in the embedded excel table.
I tried to link data, but i was not able to get this done with an embedded excel table. Also it did not properly work with master shapes and the instances of that.
Would be great if you could post a solution that works also with Visio 2003.
Thanks a lot for your work on this very helpful website.
best regards
Sascha
February 29th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Hi Sascha,
Have you tried the Database Wizard? You can find it under:
Tools > Add-ons > Visio Extras > Database Wizard
Oh, but I see you have an embedded Excel table. Hmmmm…
I don’t think that you there is anything built-in to Visio that will solve your problem.
But you might have a look at this article: Sales Force Automation With Visio
It contains an embedded Excel object that gets populated by data from the Visio shapes on the page. Perhaps the VBA code will give you an idea of how to do this.
Cheers,
- Chris
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I’m using a Belkin Speedpad programmed with Visio hotkeys. It makes working in Visio a lot faster. Have you heard from anyone else using a Speedpad in Visio? THANKS!
March 10th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Has anyone see a Visio stencil that approximates the style of graphics preferred in Patent applications?
March 11th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Hi Pat,
That sounds interesting! Can you reference any visuals for us? Is there a specific set of shapes or symbols that you would need?
- Chris
March 19th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I am very new to visio and need help. I have no graphic arts experence and need to create shpaes. How do you convert a CAD immage so it will work in Visio?
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I am looking for military shapes such as ships, Patriot, missiles, tanks, equipment, etc. I attempted to draw own shapes I had on stencil (bitmap) but wouldn’t work on the template/drawing. If any one has military shapes please let me know.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 am
Hi Les,
I don’t know of any shapes made exclusively for Visio, but you can import images and other vector formats, if you can find a clip-art library somewhere.
Good luck!
- Chris
March 26th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
When I import clip art or images and attempt to edit, to clear background sky, clouds, or gray, the background is still there when I drag onto template. I edit pitcure/clip art master and make background transparent, still background sky, etc appears on template. Any suggestions to get rid of unwanted background color, sky, etc?
March 26th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I would like to see a way to maintain a “history”.
Track what page the user of a visio document is viewing. Notice when they switch to a different page and log in. And then have the ability to hit “backspace” to view the last page viewed. Maybe even build in a way to go back up to 10 times.
It would be handy.
March 26th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
@Les,
Les, are you talking about editing bitmaps and images, then importing them and still having a white background, where you expected transparency? I’m not 100% clear on where you are having trouble.
I’m pretty sure that Visio can support transparency, but I haven’t quite figured out which formats nor how to get it to work.
- Chris
March 26th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
@Steve,
Steve, if you’re interested in prototyping this with code, then here are some events to look at:
Window.BeforeWindowPageTurn
Window.WindowTurnedToPage
Window.ViewChanged
You could track page changes, and even zoom/pan changes.
- Chris
April 1st, 2008 at 12:41 am
Hi Chirs,
I could not find a place where I could ask a question.
I was trying to work out how to put line ends on a line based upon the shape data. so for example if I have shape data within a fix list. In the list I have the flow is “from;to;both”. is it possible to change the line arrow ends so that when you select “from” the line flow from?
In the meantime have you had a look at joomla as a content management system?
April 1st, 2008 at 11:14 am
Hi Michael,
You can do what you want with a few ShapeSheet formulas. If your list is in a cell called “Prop.Arrow”, then you’d construct formulas like this:
User.ArrowIndex = LOOKUP(Prop.Arrow, Prop.Arrow.Format)
BeginArrow = If( OR(User.ArrowIndex=0, User.ArrowIndex=2), 13, 0 )
EndArrow = If( OR(User.ArrowIndex=0, User.ArrowIndex=2), 13, 0 )
13 is a nice arrowhead
0 is no arrowhead
The “OR” function allows for the from/to and the both
You can wrap the functions in the GUARD( … ) to protect the formulas from being overwritten by the user.
Cheers,
- Chris
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Visio Guy,
Thanks for the site. We are having a problem when using the dimensioning lines in our woodworking application. We can get it to display feet and inches in fraction but cant get it to display only inches and fractions. Example whe can display 1 ft 6 and 7/8 inches but cannot get it to display 18 7/8 inches. Our shop folks need to have the lines displayed like thier tape measure so it is important not to display the feet but rather only inches.
Any help would be appreceiated.
Thanks
mike
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 am
Visio guy,
I have been looking for such a site for a long time. I am having a problem in Visio 2003 with rack diagram shapes. When I drop a rack shape (problem exists with Default Visio 2003 rack shapes and HP shapes from Visio Cafe) onto a rack or cabinet, it works fine. However, after I move the shape once, the PinX and PinY formulas change so as to no longer be a function of BeginX and BeginY (etc). Thus, subsequent attempts to move the shape results in the connection points moving but the shape does not move. Even if I change the PinX (or PinY) formula to be guarded (i.e. =GUARD()), the formula still changes to a fixed value. Is this standard behavior or does this sound like a bug?
Thanks,
Steve
April 4th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
@Mike Re: Woodshop
I downloaded the Wood Shop Template from the following link a while back:
http://home.comcast.net/~hchute/woodshop_visio.htm
If you take a look at the Dimension Line in that stencil, you can drop then right click it and set the “Precision and Units” to be only displayed in inches. It is different than the Dimension Lines included in most other stencils in that it still displays in Inches + fractions (1 1/2″) vs. decimal (1.5″)
@Chris - Thanks for writing an amazing Blog and keeping us all up to speed on the latest and greatest we can do in Visio. My problem: How about dynamically updating all Custom.prop’s for shapes in a diagram after editing a Master Shape’s Custom.props, WITHOUT having to build Custom Property Sets. Some of my diagrams literally have 100’s of a particular shape and it is truly a time consuming endeavor to add a new custom.prop.
Kudos,
Sean
April 9th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Visio Guy,
I want to knock up a simple but funky isomentric street map with Visio, do you know of any interesting shapes/stencils somewhere?
MrF
April 10th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Hi MrF,
In Visio 2007 Pro, there’s a template for “Directional Map 3D” under “Maps and Floorplans”. I believe this is also available in Visio Standard, and in Visio 2003 as well (but I’m not 100% sure)
- Chris
April 11th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Are there any Basic Visio Shapes that allow for import of a background image (or any other image for that matter) as opposed to just applying color fills?
Thanks!
April 11th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Hi Joe,
You can import a wide variety of image-formats directly into Visio. They become shapes automatically, so you can add text to them!
You can copy/paste an image into Visio, but also import them via Insert > Picture > From File…
You’ll see a list of formats that you can import: emz, emf, gif, jpg, png, svg, svgz, tif, tiff, bmp, dib, wmf.
Here are some articles related to the topic of image and Visio that you might also find interesting:
Masking Images in Visio
Visio Film Strip Shapes: Hurray for Hollywood!
April 12th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Good morning,
Love the site. Thought I’d send a piece for your collection of Visio art. Will have to dig up the original file, but you can see it here, along with a brief description.
Keep up the good work,
Stuart
April 15th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Hi Visio Guy,
I’m very new to visio and need some help. I really like the site and it brings a lot of joy using Visio. But I couldn’t find the solution to my task on this website or the internet. Hope you could give me a hand.
What I want Visio to to for me is that when I paste a picture onto the page, it would automatically resize to the dimension and onto the location I want. It sounds like a simple task, but I am having a lot of difficulty achieveing that.
Thanks,
Thomson
April 15th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Hi Stuart,
Thanks for the cool poster link! I’ll have to get that up on the Art page.
- Chris
April 15th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Hi Thomson,
You can do what you need with VBA code. Are you able to use some programming to do what you need to do?
- Chris
April 15th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Is there a way to cahnge a horizontal dimension line to vertical and vice versa when an object is rotated?
Thanks
Mike
April 15th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
@mike I solved it by using the Aligned dimension lines rather than the horizonal and vertical lines. Sorry to bother everyone…
Mike
April 17th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Hi Visio Guy,
I’m not sure if you or any of your readers do network diagramming using Visio but if so I thought i would make you aware of a promo MSFT is currently running that is pretty interesting. For any Visio 2007 customer, they are giving away a copy of LANsurveyor Express which will perform auto discovery and network mapping from within Visio. The promo is available on the front page of http://www.visiotoolbox.com but expires on June 30th.
thx,
dg
April 17th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Thanks DG!
For those who are interested in a free copy of LAN surveyor, check out Visio Toolbox! Look for the Exclusive Offers in the right-hand sidebar.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Hi Everyone,
I am currently using Visio 2003 and I am having trouble with hyperlinks to on-page references. When I click on the links in Visio, I can specify what level of Zoom I want after I click. However, when I save this as a webpage I get a default zoom. (i.e. I will zoom in then click on my on-page reference but after I click it takes me to a zoom where I see the entire process map). If anyone knows how I can fix this it would be greatly appreciated!!
April 18th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Hello Chris,
Last year, when I first visited your site I often thought the article was ended before it really was. I thought this because of the white space, larger than the screen height.
Now I know you use WordPress, I had a look at the forum and it seems to be a common problem in IE.
The last occurence of the problem was in in “Center Sizing Smart Shapes” under the sentence “has some handy options for bringing the shape forward, or sending it backward.”.
In Firefox, there is no problem.
http://wordpress.org/search/space+below?forums=1
April 18th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Hi Chris,
I’m having some attempts in the VBA codes, but without much luck, I’m afraid. That is bevcause I’m too inexperienced with macros and VBA. But I’ll continue to look in that direction.
Thanks,
April 21st, 2008 at 1:12 pm
As a suggestion:
set up some kind of forum, theres so many people posting for help here, all in different locations, you might be able to keep visguy a bit cleaner if you set up some kind of location where people can go with there questions. It will also help people find the help they need easier and prevent double posting.
Just a suggestion though, great site and assistance.
April 21st, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Hi Lars-Erik,
I totally agree with you. I’m just starting to look into this, because you’re right, it’s getting a bit out of hand!
Thanks for the ideas!
- Chris
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
Hi All,
The Visio Guy Discussion Forum is up and running. You can post questions, comments, feedback and answers here: Visio Guy Discussion Forums
Have fun!
- Chris