Shape instance appears as crossed box

[ruth]

Hi all,

When I drag a shape instance from a stencil on a drawing, this works for some times. But then it appears as a crossed box. Connection points are still visible, but the shape geometry disappears. This seams to happen only for a shape with lots of connection points created in visio 2003, but now used in visio 2007.

With the same shape I also have another problem: the first times a put an instance on a drawing, no problem, but then it starts appearing upside down for no reason...   

Does anybody know whats happening and how to solve this?

Thanks,

Ruth

[Visio Guy]

Hi Ruth,

Can you post a very simple example of your shape-gone-wrong? By simple, I mean a blank drawing with the minimum of shapes, etc. needed to show your problem.

You can upload it to this forum by clicking "Additional Options..." in the lower-left, just below the post-entry text box.

Cheers,

Chris

[Paul Herber]

I'm wondering if this might be a video driver problem.
Check that you have the most up-to-date video drivers
menu Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager
It also might be worth trying some different video settings, like changing the screen size and/or colour depth.
Also try changing the video hardware acceleration
menu Start -> Control Panel -> Display -> Settings -> Advanced -> Troubleshoot

[ruth]

Hi,

The file is 800mB, is there another way to send it?

Ruth

[Paul Herber]

The file is 800mB, is there another way to send it?

This might be the problem. It could be that Visio/Windows is running out of resources to handle that size of file.
What is in the document to make it that large?

[ruth]

This shape is a png-image of a rack. It also contains 93 connections points. These are all necessary.

[Paul Herber]

Hi Ruth, there must be something else taking up that much space, 800MB is huge for a Visio file. Individual connection points don't add much space to shapes, even 93 of them.
Are images being added to the diagram and then other images deleted?
Are you in Track markup mode?

[ruth]

I think the file size is due to the size of the png-file we used.

Before, we tried to insert cad-drawing directly into visio, but this resulted in even larger files.
So we made png-files in Photoshop starting from the CAD-drawings to add colours and transparancy. Afterwards we inserted the png-files in visio, resize and add the connections points.

We didn't use track markup mode. I just opened it for the first time now.

How can I check if the size of the png-file is causing the problem?

[Paul Herber]

What size is the PNG file?

try this:
menu File -> Shapes -> Show Document Stencil
How many shapes are shown?

[ruth]

Oops... The file is 800kB, not mB. My mistake...

Only 1 shape on the document stencil.

[Paul Herber]

Can post the file here? Zip the file to make it smaller than the maximum allowed 500kB.

[wapperdude]

Just as a point of reference, in V2003, I made a rectangle and added 15 connection points per side.  Saved this and then opened it in V2007.  Try as I might, I could not replicate the "X'd" out shape.  Just an additional data point.

[Paul Herber]

I've got a shape here with 4000 connection points, no problem showing it at all. Scrolling through the shapesheet isn't 100% though (V2003 and 2007)!
I still think it's worth checking the video drivers etc.

[wapperdude]

Paul -- 4000 pts?    You have way too much time on your hands!!!     Did you find such a beast or do it programmatically? 

[Visio Guy]

Hi Ruth,

If you see a little envelope next to my name, then you can try e-mailing me the file, since the attachment size-restriction is messing things up.