Creating a balloon callout with two leaders

[Sven]

Is this even possible?  I'd like to create a balloon callout with a leader pointing to one shape and another leader pointing to another.  It's for a CAD engineering drawing, where this is done frequently.  Thanks.

[Paul Herber]

It is, it will take some work though. Which version of Visio?

[Sven]

2010

[Hey Ken]

Sven:

   I put together one of those beasts a while back.  It's attached.  It comes with one leg, but you can right click on it to add or remove up to 10 legs.  It's not a balloon, sorry to say, but at least it is a callout.  With a little tweaking you can make it a balloon, I'm sure.

   Good luck!

   - Ken

[Sven]

Thank you Ken.  I tried reworking your file but unfortunately I am not that skilled in Visio, the most I could do was change the arrowhead and color.

If anyone else has something close to what I'm looking for I'd really appreciate it if you can share it.

[Paul Herber]

I've been looking at this, I was originally looking at creating new geometry sections, user data, controls etc to replicate the behaviour but I think this might be easier.
See the attached file, I've built this callout from a "Custom callout 1" and two "Center text callout" shapes.

[wapperdude]

Perhaps the following will be helpful.  It was done a while ago, http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=1472.0.

There are several "styles" of callouts.  Each has a right click menu to allow various options:  number of leaders, number elbows for the leaders, matching text color to line color.  If you want a more balloon shape, just round the corners.  Hopefully, this helps.

Wapperdude

[Paul Herber]

Note also that there are two different sets of callouts. Not only is there the Callouts stencils but there are also callout shapes on the Visio 2010 Insert ribbon. They are totally different shapes.

[wapperdude]

Totally!  Dude!   

[Sven]

I think I may be getting closer to what I'm trying to achieve.

I've created a callout from the "Callouts" in the "Shapes" window.  I then opened the "ShapeSheet" and added a Control Handle by inserting a row in the "Controls" section (Controls.Row2).

My problem now is adding a visible line to between the Control Point and the center of the circle .  Can someone please take a look at the attached file?  Thanks again.

[wapperdude]

This is a grouped shape.  As configured, only the group is allowed to be selected.  You can either go to View>Drawing Explorer window and then push down through Foreground pages to see the structure, or you can select the shape, right click, behavior, pick a different option rather than group only.

Using this structure, you need to add another line shape similar in style to shape.3 to the group.  This new shape then should be set to mimic the behavior of shape.3's shapesheet.  Both lines will either be visible / invisible at the same time. 

You would need another action entry at the top group level to pass into the new shape to have independent control of the two lines.

HTH
Wapperdude

[wapperdude]

BTW, it's easy to adapt the callouts that I previously referenced.  In the geometry section, change the row type to ellipse.

Attached is a modified version that ought to behave as you desire ... with optional bells and whistles.

HTH
Wapperdude

[Sven]

Alright, slowly making some progress.

I was able to figure out how to add a line connecting the balloon to the second control point.  My problem now is sending that line to the back of the balloon.  Which property in the ShapeSheet is that?

And while we are at it, when I try to glue the first callout to an edge I get a "Configuration Callout" popup window.  How do I stop this?

[wapperdude]

Progress!

The line you added is at the top group level.  There is no way to push this line behind the balloon.  In order to push it back, it must be drawn as a separate shape, then added to the balloon shape group.  Once added, then, the shapesheet must be opened and edited.  The edits must make the new shapesheet have the same formulas as the shapesheet for the line that was already part of the balloon grouping.

Wapperdude

[Sven]

Alright, I'm still at it.

I tried the > Right Mouse Button > Group > Open Custom callout 2.7.  I then added a line and sent it to the back behind the balloon.

I went back to the document and added a control point by inserting a row in the Controls section of the ShapeSheet.  Now I just need to edit the newly added line so that one end follows the new control point.  I can't find any sections in the ShapeSheet where I can do this.