Visio Guy

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  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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.

  5. 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

  6. 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-

  8. 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).

  9. 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!

  10. 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.

  11. 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!

  12. 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

  13. 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

  15. 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.

  16. 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

  17. 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

  19. 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

  20. 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

  21. 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

  22. 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

  23. 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!

  24. Has anyone see a Visio stencil that approximates the style of graphics preferred in Patent applications?

  25. 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

  26. 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?

  27. 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.

  28. 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

  29. 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?

  30. 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.

  31. @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

  32. @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

  33. 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?

  34. 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

  35. 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

  36. 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

  37. @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

  38. 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

  39. 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

  40. 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!

  41. 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!

  42. 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

  43. 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

  44. Hi Stuart,

    Thanks for the cool poster link! I’ll have to get that up on the Art page.

    – Chris

  45. 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