Legends: getting ToC and layers to update automatically

[shayneneal]

I am new - and stupid when it comes to programming and that whole end of Visio but I do have plans on learning but immediately would love to put some new tricks to work on this weekend's project.  One thing I found was a Macro that created a TOC (http://stephenturbek.com/2007/04/automatically-create-table-of-contents.html) from the page names in the Visio document.  I often create boxes with Table of Contents, Keys, and Legends manually as I have been since before MS owned Visio.

This leads to two questions...

1.  Is there any way to have this macro automatically update?  (call me spoiled by MS features in word and excel)

2.  Is there a macro out there (or how hard would it be to make one) that would display other data in a key?  My prime desire would be for one that would suck out all the layers used in the drawing or page and display them in a box that I could push out to the index page at the front of the document or the "Legends" page that appears as a background for all the pages in the file.

I currently only have 20 layers but they are not very user-friendly in the naming convention so re-typing by hand often leads to errors - and a whole lot more time spent than what I put into the forum!

Thanks for all you help!  (I look forward to being able to actually offer REAL help in here myself someday rather than my usual comical efforts (http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=276.0),

Shayne

[shayneneal]

I apparently was not very clear - too much talking, not enough said...

I often build drawings with upwards of 20 pages (sometimes over 120).  I am looking for a way to automate the table of contents or the index page.  I have a background page I use quite often that displays a corner box with a list of tab or page names and their respective page numbers in the package.  Once I change a page name or re-arrange their order, I have to remember to go change the index page list.

I was looking for a way to automate this when I found a VB script that pasted the data but it is similar to a copy/paste of the data and what I am really looking for is something that would utilize the fields from the other pages and act more like a copy/paste-link.

I hope that is more clear.  Is it possible to bring a field to another page?  I have a field for the current page number of the total pages, is it possible to bring a page title from a different page to that page that would update if I changed that page's title?

Thanks,

Shayne

[Lars-Erik]

If I'm reading this right, you have a page with a name, or a field with its name in it. This field is filled into a field on the background (or an other page) to create a ToC.

Is this ToC created manually at the moment? And do you want to automate this?

Have a look at this:
http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=132.0
Its a post about automating a ToC if i remember correct. It , or parts of its code might help you.

- Lars

[Visio Guy]

Guys,

This article might help as well:

Combo Box Table of Contents

[shayneneal]

I actually read both of those pages and am looking for something more along the lines of this solution...

http://stephenturbek.com/2007/04/automatically-create-table-of-contents.html

I would love to learn some VB or any programming but alas I have to admit that I know more about bilirubin counts.  I used this macro to create the ToC that I wanted and now I am wondering if it is possible to dynamically link the data so that every time a page changes I do not have to re-run the macro and recreate the ToC box? 

How hard is it to take the link that Chris supplied and turn that pull-down from that page into a macro or a shape that can be dragged onto any page in another document, or is it possible?

Thanks,

Shayne