simple Visio shape-to-shape hyperlinking not working

Started by booradly07, May 14, 2012, 06:10:15 PM

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booradly07

Hi,

I know this must be a very basic issue I am having but I can't seem to get through it.

I have a Visio drawing (web drawing actually) that I want to use shape-to-shape linkage within the drawing for navigation to different areas on a page or to different pages in the drawing.  The instructions seem simple...enable dev mode to allow you to find the shape names or name the shapes.  I name the shape, then follow the format of page/shape name in the sub-address field of the hyperlink configuration for the source shape.  I have tried every kind of scenario I can come up with but can't get the simple shape linking to work.  It always says, for example, "Hyperlink to 'Test Page/Test Shape' failed.  Make sure the address is correct and try again.

Any basic tips on what I might be missing?  Anyone else encounter this?  It seems like something that i would have found troubleshooting pages on but couldn't find anything but the same ol' instructions on how to make it work which I am following.  :(

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

EDIT:I should add, I can easily link to different pages in the same drawing if I don't specify a shape.  However, due to the goal I have of creating a navigation map that lives on one page and only breaks out to new pages when actually showing content, in this case architectural drawings, I want to create the whole navigation map in one view with linking to different areas of the map using shapes as the hyperlink.  LInking to shapes is not working for me, period.

booradly07

OK, I figured it out.  I was doing it wrong.

WHAT I WAS DOING.
I had going into 'define shape data' and setting the object shape name in the 'name' field in the Define Shape Data properties window.  This does not work.  Not sure why.

WHAT I DID TO MAKE IT WORK.
I added the additional developer tool 'shape design' to my quicklaunch bar.  Then under that tool I get/edit the shape name with the 'shape name' function under the 'shape design' tool.  It worked immediately.

Jumpy

Could be the Name vs. NameU issue that  is mentioned in many threads here.
The ShapeName-function seems to circumvent that.

Ytse_Jam

Quote from: booradly07 on May 14, 2012, 08:25:09 PM
OK, I figured it out.  I was doing it wrong.

WHAT I WAS DOING.
I had going into 'define shape data' and setting the object shape name in the 'name' field in the Define Shape Data properties window.  This does not work.  Not sure why.

WHAT I DID TO MAKE IT WORK.
I added the additional developer tool 'shape design' to my quicklaunch bar.  Then under that tool I get/edit the shape name with the 'shape name' function under the 'shape design' tool.  It worked immediately.

Hi.

I have the same problem.
Can you tell me where i can download the "shape design" tool?
Sorry for my English...

I waiting for you answer.

Bye.

robert.cowham

File > Options > Advanced > scroll down to bottom and tick "Run in Developer mode"

This gives you an extra tab with Shape Name button

DLSieving

Problem:

In my case I'd done everything properly but did not realize that Visio is picky about tab (page) names.  I had a forward slash (/) in my destination tab name.  The link to that page would work if I double-clicked the incoming off-page reference shape but if I used Ctrl-Click instead I would get the subject error message.  The link also failed in the PDF export of the Visio file.

Solution:

I renamed the page by replacing the / with a dash (-) and it started working both in Visio and in the PDF export.

Caveat:

I have two other off-page references in the same Visio file, however, that only work in one direction in the PDF export or when using Ctrl-Click instead of a double-click.  They point back to the same page that I renamed to fix the link described above but still don't work in the PDF export.  Inconsistencies like this indicate faulty logic in the software that should be re-examined and fixed.

wapperdude

DLSieving

Which version of Visio?
How did you setup your hyperlinks?

Normally, I would think "/" in the name would cause problems.  I think "-" is an allowed character.  Don't think this is a logic issue.  Plus, neither of those ought to be needed.  Just simple page name ought to suffice.  As mentioned earlier in this thread, there is an issue with Name vs NameU.  This comes into play when renaming something more than once.

For what it's worth, in V2007, adding hyperlink to a shape is accessible via <cntl> + k.  This brings up a menu.  There's a browse button for the sub-address, which allows you to select the desired target page.  Once a hyperlink is defined, right clicking the shape allows you to click on the link, and off you go.  I tried 3 page name cases:  Page-1, /Page-2, and -Page-3.  All three were accepted and worked with the hyperlink.  Perhaps, something has changed with the newer releases.

Wapperdude
Visio 2019 Pro

wapperdude

...after a little more exploring,

I'm guessing you established the links via right click shape>format>Behavior>Double Click select Go to page, and pick desired page from drop down menu.  In this case, the dbl click doesnot work for the /page name.  All others do work.

<cntl> click doesn't work any better.

Wapperdude
Visio 2019 Pro

Hey Ken


Quote from: wapperdude on May 25, 2017, 02:22:13 AM

Normally, I would think "/" in the name would cause problems.  I think "-" is an allowed character.


   FYI, there are five specific characters in a page name that make Visio hyperlinks choke.  They are: /, \, %, ?, and a trailing blank.

   I routinely export my heavily-hyperlinked drawings to PDF, and other than those few illegal characters I can't say I've ever had any problems with hyperlinks not working page-to-page.  However, I've never gotten shape-to-shape to work in the PDF.

   Hope this helps,

   - Ken

Ken V. Krawchuk
Author
No Dogs on Mars - A Starship Story
http://astarshipstory.com