VBA – john Visio MVP

Whose my parent?

Sorry David, no pictures this time. This is a very quick post. I came across a Stack OverFlow question. The user had a shape that contained other shapes and wanted how to reference the parent shape. The posted answer…. Although there nothing like “parent”, you can use shape id directly. You need to find theContinue reading “Whose my parent?”

I need a break

I was programming Visio almost from the beginning. At the time it was in C. Around version 3, Visio was the first non MS product to fully implement VBA, including the macro recorder. When VBA was introduced, I was hooked. I could quickly automate Visio. Well almost, they did not trap the Break key. YouContinue reading “I need a break”

Format Code Sampler

I have been exploring Format Codes in Visio and have created a download to make a Visio Format Code Sampler. The files are in Downloads.. This is a first draft and I will be updating it. I just wanted to get it out the door. 😉

Is it Metric?

I am working on a blog post about Title Blocks and doing some research on adding a Scale value to a Visio text block and came across an interesting post by the shape miester Visio Guy (AKA Chris) (my usual research method is to review blogs by the Visio MVPs) Detect-drawing-units-in-the-shapesheet In the comments, oneContinue reading “Is it Metric?”

The adventures of Visio section shapes continues

A while back I created a stencil of Visio section shapes. They were based on screen shots of the Shapesheet, I added control handles to adjust “cell” widths. The cells content was stored in Excel. I then loaded the “cell” contents from Excel. So, I had shapes that looked like Shapesheet sections, but they hadContinue reading “The adventures of Visio section shapes continues”

Visio RowType?

I love spelunking through the Visio shapesheet and creating Visio shapes that are more than just plain clipArt. I use CellsSRC() to explore because I can iterate through an entire shapesheet and learn. Though CellsSRC sounds like Cells Source, it actually stands for Section, Row and Cell. Section is misleading. If you look at theContinue reading “Visio RowType?”

Visio Background Check

Another interesting question from the Visio section of Answers. The user wanted to find the background colour of a page. He was using the Backgrounds tab on the Design ribbon. This creates a background page with a name like VBackground-1. So, what he was looking for was the colour of the first shape on theContinue reading “Visio Background Check”

Stacking Shapes

One thing that is missing in Visio, is the ability to stack shapes. You can align shapes on the top, bottom, left or right edges, but you can not stack. To stack two shapes, you have to drag a guideline from the top ruler and then place the bottom edge of one shape on theContinue reading “Stacking Shapes”

I need an OED

I have enhanced the Visio stencil shapes so that each shape has custom properties (AKA Shape Data) that is pulled down to the various cells in the shape. I have also updated how the Control Handles that control the width of the cells work. So,I now have a stencil of Visio section shapes that IContinue reading “I need an OED”

ShapeSheet Shapes

A lot of people only know Visio as an app to create business diagrams with clip art and connecting lines. Some have realized you can connect the diagram to a data source like Excel and bring life to the content. Some have also realized you can add embellishments to the shapes called Data Graphics thatContinue reading “ShapeSheet Shapes”