Lock Display Options And Reset On Same Page

Started by Malcolm Debono, February 11, 2016, 11:21:02 AM

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Malcolm Debono

Can someone please tell me if there is a way to set the display options on a page for say doors and windows and having used the doors and windows lock them. Then set different display options for doors and windows and use those on the same page. Any help would be appreciated.

JohnGoldsmith

Hi,

What version of Visio and template are you using?

By locking, do you mean you set some options and then lock those options in that state?  Assuming you're using one of the Plan templates, then the settings that are available in the display options dialog are mapped to User cells in the page.  Out of the box I don't believe you can't do what you're after, but you could certainly accompish this with code.  Also, depending on how far you want to go you could edit the masters and add some kind of IsLocked state and only allow the Display Options dialog if it was false.

Is code an option for you?

Best regards

John
John Goldsmith - Visio MVP
http://visualsignals.typepad.co.uk/

JohnGoldsmith

I was just chatting with David Parker, who came up with the good idea of syncing the page cells to a central doc location - the document ShapeSheet.  If you mirror the cells from the page that you're interested in (see attached image), in the doc ShapeSheet, then you can continue to use the Display Options dialog and then the settings will be applied across the document.

You can also use the SETATREF function to take in a page level IsLocked cell to take part in that synchronisation or not.

If this sounds of interest, then you might find this useful where I did something similar a while ago: http://visualsignals.typepad.co.uk/vislog/2011/11/shapes-with-global-values.html

Best regards

John

John Goldsmith - Visio MVP
http://visualsignals.typepad.co.uk/

Malcolm Debono

#3
Hello John Thank you for replying. I am using 2013 and the plan template. You are far more advanced in the technical side than I am. Can you please tell me. Is it possible to somehow, which you mentioned, save an existing master under another name and set different options or does the program always revert to the set options. If not could you explain a little more on how to lock it,  IsLocked state ?

JohnGoldsmith

Hi,

You might be able to although I haven't tested what's involved with this template (and importantly its supporting addon).

It looks like it doesn't care about the template too much as the addon is initialized from the EventDrop cell within the shapes.

How familiar are you with the ShapeSheet?

Best regards

John
John Goldsmith - Visio MVP
http://visualsignals.typepad.co.uk/

Malcolm Debono

John I am afraid I don't use the shapesheet. If it were a simple change I could probably work through it with a bit of direction to get me started.

JohnGoldsmith

Hi,

Oh ok.  Well I would say that it's not a simple change unfortunately, so unless someone here puts their hand up then I think you'll be stuck with the out of the box functionality.  I'm afraid I don't have capacity at the moment.

Why not reiterate exactly what you're after and see if anyone is willing to help out?  People here are normal more than generous with their time.

Best regards

John
John Goldsmith - Visio MVP
http://visualsignals.typepad.co.uk/

Malcolm Debono

Hi John Thank you for replying. To reiterate is it possible to save a master under a different name and set different display options using both masters on the same page. Any help would be appreciated.

wapperdude

Which display options are you trying to lock?   Is the idea to then have two,  e.g., door masters, and then drag and drop a particular master according to properties?

Wapperdude
Visio 2019 Pro

Malcolm Debono

Hi Thank you for replying.
>Is the idea to then have two,  e.g., door masters, and then drag and drop a particular master according to properties?
Yes.
What I am trying to do is use one of the standard masters say for a door, set the options for the sills and save it and again use the same standard master for a door, set the options (but different) for the sills and save it under a different name. I used the word lock because no matter what I have tried it always reverts to one option and I do not have enough understanding to lock them to stop them changing.

wapperdude

The problem is that these features are stored in the page shapesheet.  So,  when you drop your shape it inherits the current page settings.

You need to modify your"custom" door to ignore the updating.
1)  make your changes.   Make a note of which options you changed.
2)  open shapesheet for the shape.   Right click somewhere in the window and select show values
3)  in the User Defined sectio, find the row that has name referring to your changed option.
4)  in the value cell,  enter the value you see.   This will clobber the underlying formula,  "freezing" the value that you entered.
5) save your custom shape to a stencil.

Now your settings are preserved.   Non-modified entries behave normally.

Wapperdude
Visio 2019 Pro

Malcolm Debono

Thank you Wapperdude I will try what you said (hope I can get my head round it).

Yacine

To me it looks like a scenarios problem. ie: setting up different configurations and saving them for later use.

Kiler has built such a tool some times ago.
Look here: http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=6051.msg24542#msg24542
He stored the shape data of each scenario in a column of an external excel file, then he used some formula to update the actual worksheet linked to the visio file, so that finally he only had to refresh the data to get another scenario in Visio.
For mdd this would mean, that he needs to link the visual properties of his shapes to shape data.

Cheers,
Y.
Yacine

Malcolm Debono

Wapperdude I tried what you said and the main thing I wanted to achieve works. One part doesn't work and that is when I change the depth of the outside sill then do what you said on the ShapeSheet it still reverts to one size. Maybe I am not doing something, hopefully I will work through it. Thank you so much "when you know how to do something it is easy but when you don't it is so hard".

wapperdude

#14
Well, some of these shapes are quite complex,  made of multiple subshapes.  Passing of data becomes rather involved.  It's not uncommon to pass the group data directly to a subshapes.  The sill depth is one of those cases. So,  further shapesheet explanation necessary.

When you open the shapesheet, near the top of screen is a horizontal GUI bar (forgot what it's called).  The left most icon is Shapesheet Formula Teaching Window.  Click it.  A new sub window will display in the right edge of shapesheet window.   Next to the icon you selected is the Trace Dependents icon.   Select it if it's not.   This allows you to see what cells depend upon the value of a cell in the shapesheet that you select.  You can use help or Google for more info on formula tracing.

Now,  go to the Shape Data section.  Find the row for WndwSillDepthIn and select the value.  The Formula Trace widow will show who's depending on this value.   In this case,  it'll be something like Sheet.46!Height.  That is the cell you need to edit.  It is a subshape, Sheet.46.

Now, you need to open the Drawing Explorer Window.   Find it under View.  In the DW,you navigate by expanding the tree. ..Page > Shapes>Window>Shapes>Sheet.46. or something like that.  Right click Sheet.46 and show shapesheet.
In the "Height" cell, enter the desired value.

That's it.   Close shapesheet windows.  Save your shape.

Wapperdude
Visio 2019 Pro