Looking for a good tutorial on stencils and master shapes

[Jennifer]

I am about to embark on a project that will work a lot better if I can create some master shapes. I have had some problems with this in the past. I've read some websites when I searched for "tutorials on visio stencils and master shapes". Some are better written than others.

Can anyone recommend a really good tutorial that will show me how to create and manage stencils and master shapes?

Thanks

[wapperdude]

I presume you've seen this reference:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-shape-9acfe781-ae7e-43e5-ad69-9f3f89d0cf7c

[Surrogate]

Hi, Jennifer !

how to create and manage stencils and master shapes?

What do you mean as MANAGE ?

[Jennifer]

I presume you've seen this reference:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-shape-9acfe781-ae7e-43e5-ad69-9f3f89d0cf7c

Actually, no, I hadn't. I mostly searched for "stencil" and "master shape". I should have searched for "shape". Thanks 

[Jennifer]

Hi, Jennifer !

how to create and manage stencils and master shapes?

What do you mean as MANAGE ?

I meant learning how to keep them all working over time. I read several places that said that changes to "master" shapes may not be propagated to the drawings because they get replicated in document stencils, or something like that. So it seemed like there were some pitfalls, which I would almost certainly fall into. So I wanted to understand the proper way to create, use, and maintain (manage) them all.

[Surrogate]

Creating Masters and Stencils - two decades old article.
Also I recommend Volume 1: Shapes and ShapeSheet Fundamentals from Microsoft Visio 2010 Developer Training

[Jennifer]

Creating Masters and Stencils - two decades old article.
Also I recommend Volume 1: Shapes and ShapeSheet Fundamentals from Microsoft Visio 2010 Developer Training

Great, thanks. I am probably making more of this than is necessary, but I thought I would try to head of any problems rather than cursing later when they arise. 🤨😯

[Nikolay]

I meant learning how to keep them all working over time. I read several places that said that changes to "master" shapes may not be propagated to the drawings because they get replicated in document stencils, or something like that. So it seemed like there were some pitfalls, which I would almost certainly fall into. So I wanted to understand the proper way to create, use, and maintain (manage) them all.

I think there is not much more to it, actually, than what you just said...
It is just to understand that Visio files are self-contained. i.e. everything a Visio file needs is contained in that file, including masters.

Therefore, if you modify a stencil file (i.e. a different file) this change will not actually affect things that are outside of that file, i.e. in all other files, the master (and shapes produced from it) will stay like they were before the modification.
This is all only relevant if you build your own masters and stencils, of course. Most users probably don't and just use the existing stencils provided by Visio.

I remember long, long ago, Visio even came with some database scripts to store custom masters, and some tools to manage them
But that was all much too complex, and was probably dropped at some point of time in the past.

[Jennifer]

I meant learning how to keep them all working over time. I read several places that said that changes to "master" shapes may not be propagated to the drawings because they get replicated in document stencils, or something like that. So it seemed like there were some pitfalls, which I would almost certainly fall into. So I wanted to understand the proper way to create, use, and maintain (manage) them all.

I think there is not much more to it, actually, than what you just said...
It is just to understand that Visio files are self-contained. i.e. everything a Visio file needs is contained in that file, including masters.

Therefore, if you modify a stencil file (i.e. a different file) this change will not actually affect things that are outside of that file, i.e. in all other files, the master (and shapes produced from it) will stay like they were before the modification.
This is all only relevant if you build your own masters and stencils, of course. Most users probably don't and just use the existing stencils provided by Visio.

I remember long, long ago, Visio even came with some database scripts to store custom masters, and some tools to manage them
But that was all much too complex, and was probably dropped at some point of time in the past.

Ok. Maybe I am making more of it than is necessary. I often do. 🤔😯

It's just counterintuitive to me that a "master" is not a master. I am used to VBA where it is perfectly clear if some code is in a document module or an add-in. And if in an add-in, and I modify it, all documents that use it get the new code.

I'll study the suggested tutorials and probably be back when I go off the rails. 😥😣

Thanks

[Yacine]

@Jennifer,
You haven't said much about your project. If you tell us more we may suggest ways to persist the dependency on a stencil.

[Jennifer]

@Jennifer,
You haven't said much about your project. If you tell us more we may suggest ways to persist the dependency on a stencil.

It's an intro to music theory for the grandkids. It will lay out the basics of keys, key signatures, chords, chord progressions, circle of fifths, etc. I'm just getting started. My first shape is a piano keyboard:



It one will be used many times. Sometimes it will have the keys:



Can anyone tell me how to get the "flat" symbol? The Unicode is supposed to be 266D. 266F works for the sharp symbol.

[Croc]

Looking for a good tutorial on stencils and master shapes

Jennifer, there are many tutorials out there that tell you how to make shapes. But there is one video that teaches you to understand the essence of Visio, the mechanics of the relationship of the main elements. I advise everyone to start with this material.
John Goldsmith "Visio, a flyby for developers" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsazcJ8pYJc

[wapperdude]

Regarding music symbols, you might have better luck downloading a font set.  This is untried and not an endorsement, but example:  https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Music

[Yacine]

Looking for a good tutorial on stencils and master shapes

Jennifer, there are many tutorials out there that tell you how to make shapes. But there is one video that teaches you to understand the essence of Visio, the mechanics of the relationship of the main elements. I advise everyone to start with this material.
John Goldsmith "Visio, a flyby for developers" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsazcJ8pYJc

That is indeed a good one. Actually the very first serious one I've ever seen on Youtube.
Thank you very much for this link.

[Surrogate]

Actually the very first serious one I've seen on Youtube

These videos were originally published on Channel9 about six years ago.

I would like to draw everyone's attention to a two part Visio developer video series by my good friend and fellow Visio MVP, John Goldsmith.
Goto https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/MVP-Office-Dev/Visio-a-flyby-for-developers-Part-1 and https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/MVP-Office-Dev/Visio-a-flyby-for-developers-Part-2.

Well done John! Creating these videos has been a labour of love, I know. Now it is time to spread the love!

John published his videos on YouTube platform about six months ago, unfortunately the videos have not had many views or likes