Scaling Problem w/Multiple Shapes

[jjudson]

My company makes a series of shapes for use in network diagram construction.  Some of the shapes are backplanes that other shapes (of modules) plug into.  The problem is that when I build a unit with the backplane and attached modules and then attempt to scale them, they don't scale together - even when grouped.

I would be happy to send a couple of these shapes to anyone for further elaboration.

I am a bit of a newbie.  Can anyone help?

Thanks ahead...

[philippec]

My first reply on this forum.

Maybe Format - behavior - resize behavior - scale with group.
A clear text on scaling :
http://www.visguy.com/2007/08/21/text-resizing-with-shapesheet-formulas/


Tell us if this helps.

[Visio Guy]

Might have to do with the rack shapes being "1D" - ie: they have left and right endpoints instead of the normal eight handles around the edge.

That way, the equipment can snap into wider racks without changing size. The size of the equipment is normally drawn to scale, so many people don't want the shapes to stretch.

[jjudson]

Might have to do with the rack shapes being "1D" - ie: they have left and right endpoints instead of the normal eight handles around the edge.

This sounds like it might be the problem.  While the backplane shape does have eight handles all the way around, the module shapes have only four - one each on the top and bottom, and one each on the left and right.  The top and bottom endpoints lock into the backplane lockpoints (or whatever they're called), but the side points do not have anything to attach themselves to.

Is there a way to modify these shapes to have this capability?  If it's complicated - but still possible - you don't have to teach me, just point me to a tutorial or help file and I'll work on it.

Thanks!

[Visio Guy]

You can set the Height and Width cells in the ShapeSheet (Window > Show ShapeSheet)

Are you making unscaled drawing? I'm not sure why you want them to stretch - just for pictorial reasons?

[Lars-Erik]

I'm not sure what your shapes look like, but why not just make them 2D?
Might just work, try it (Making shapes 2D will break connections, so those have to be reconnected)

1 Right mouse on the shape that needs to be changed
2 Format or Lay-out ( not sure what the english translation is)
3 Behaviour
4 Set the shape to 2D (top left)

Might just work, might not.

-Lars

[Visio Guy]

Yes, that's it: Format > Behavior menu

[aledlund]

I'd be happy to take a look. My e-mail lives on yahoo and the id is edlund60014.
al

[jjudson]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.  The 2D selection seemed to be the solution to the problem.

I'm bookmarking this site for other newbie inquiries.  Thanks again!

[wapperdude]

Sorry to chime in so late, but instead of converting the 1D shape to 2D and losing the connectivity, edit the shapesheet>Shape Transform section.  Change either the height or width values, e.g. Height Cell = Width*0.18.  This preserves the aspect ratio, maintains the 1D connectivity, and the "2D" proportionality is preserved. Using the Protection --> aspect ratio selection doesn't work in this case, because Visio treats this object as 1D which has no aspect ratio.