ShapeSheet Editor in Visio 2010 Technical Preview

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

ShapeSheet tools are added to the ShapeSheet Editor in Visio 2010 Technical Preview.
Almost all operations can be done with Ribbon Controls.
Please, look at the picture, "Image1.jpg", below and imagine what can be done with each control.
Among them, the most convenient is the "Edit Formula".
If you insert a section such as Action section, and if you press the "Edit Formula" after you select the cell of Action section, and then a text editor pop-ups.
At first it looks like a simple Note-Pad.
But if you begin to enter any key word, for example "run", then the list of the keyword appears. Image2.jpg is the snap shot at the moment.
You can enter the right keyword by double-clicking one of them.

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

This list for available-keywords appears not only on text editor but also on the other legacy editing places, on cell or on top input line.
Available keywords are not limited to the built-in keywords, but includes for example the names of the user-defined cells. (Image3.jpg)
This is the strongest enhance, you do not need to copy and paste with the hard sequence of shortcut-keys any more.

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

You will find many new shapesheet functions in the available keywords list.
You can see the description on the right hand of the selected keyword.
If new, the description begins with "todo: need description for ..."
We are happy waiting for forthcoming description.(Image4.jpg)

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

If you enter the case arc "(" for the parameter of the shapesheet function, then a prompt is displayed above the selected function in the list. (Image5.jpg)　It may be overlooked easily in the jungle of texts, but it is useful prompt. 

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

You can find many new cell names in the available keywords list.
But they are not found in the shapesheet of the current preview version.
For example, here you can see TextMaxDepth in the figure "Image6.jpg".
I am not sure, but I think many new cells will be added to the new product version of Visio.

[Visio Guy]

Thanks Junichi for all of this cool info about the Visio 2010 ShapeSheet.

John Goldsmith also has an article that I should reference here:

Visio 2010 –
ShapeSheet Intellisense and formula editing

And I will post this thread's link on his blog too!

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

New ShapeSheet editor is great, but sometimes gives error.
When you editing existing formula, key word is inserted unexpectedly.
Duplicated keywords causes error.

In the image1.jpg below, I am trying to change "EndX" into "BeginX", and I am overwriting  "begin" over the "End".
And when I press enter key, error happens like image2.jpg.

If you watch the formula  in the image2.jpg, you would find "BeginXX".
Here X is duplicated.

[Barry]

Junichi,

Thanks for the bug report.  We may have already fixed this issue for the upcoming Beta.  I'll double check and log a bug if the issue still repros.


Barry

[JuneTheSecond]

Lot of thanks, Barry, for the good news.
And it is great that a pair of brackets is clearly shown in red color, when you close the brackets in the shapesheet formula.

However you need to delete once and write again the closing bracket, if a pair of brackets is already existing.

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

If you make a user-defined cell and refer the Fields.Value cell in the text fields section, you cannnot see the "Fields" in the list of available keywords.(Image26.jpg)
And moreover, no list is shown, when you enter period, ".". (Image27.jpg)
Shapesheet editor does not help you, when you refer to the text fields.

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

If you print out the added cells and formulas, while you add text fields with menu "Insert / Fields", you can see the 9 cells are added in the Text Fields section. (Image28.jpg)

But you can see in the shapesheet only 4 cells, "Format", "Value, "Calendar" and "ObjectKind".
Other 5 cells cannot be seen, "UICat", "UICod", UIFmt", "EditMode" and "Type".
Fields Text may strongly power up in the product version, I hope so.

"Char.Highlight" cell cannot be seen in the shapesheet, "Character" section. Can I expect something shining? 

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

Visio 2010 Technical Preview has many new cells that are not yet visible in the shapesheet.
One of the exceptions is "Copyright" cell. "Copyright" cell also exist in Visio 2007, but it is not widely known because you cannot see in the shapesheet.
In Visio 2010 Technical Preview, you can find this item on the keywords list in the shape sheet editor.(image29.jpg)

"Copyright" cell is linked tightly with the item, "Copyright", in the dialog, "Special". (image30.jpg)
If you fill the item, "Copyright", with your text, then the cell is filled with the text.
As "Copyright" cell exists, you can display the text on the shape if you insert the text fields that refer to the "Copyright" cell.
Or you can read the "Copyright" cell with the macro.

Code

Sub ReadCopyRight()
    Debug.Print ActiveWindow.Selection(1).Cells("Copyright").FormulaU
End Sub

You can write your text in the "Copyright" cell only once with the macro.

Code

Sub RegCopyright()
    On Error GoTo EMSG
    ActiveWindow.Selection(1).Cells("Copyright").FormulaU = Chr(34) & "Copyright (C) 2009 Visio Guys" & Chr(34)
    Exit Sub
EMSG:
    MsgBox Err.Description
End Sub

This "Copyright" cell is very much convenient to the shapes developers, because they can write their text to all shapes or master shapes with a simple macro. 

Code

Sub RegAllCopyright()
    Dim shp As Visio.Shape
    On Error GoTo EMSG
    For Each shp In ActivePage.Shapes
        shp.Cells("Copyright").FormulaU = Chr(34) & "Copyright (C) 2009 Visio Guys" & Chr(34)
    Next
    Exit Sub
EMSG:
    MsgBox Err.Description
End Sub