How can I obtain a shapes protection properties in C#?

[eggmatters]

Hi, I am trying to edit a visio programatically in C#. Some shapes are protected, others aren't. Luckily, I'm only interested in the unprotected shapes. I've tried to navigate through all of the various COM properties for a shape but I don't see anything that might describe what kind of protection a shape may have. Does anybody know how to discern this?

[Paul Herber]

You need the shape's cellsSRC property with parameters visSectionObject, visRowLock plus one of the protection indicators - visLockWidth, visLockHeight, visLockMoveX etc

[Visio Guy]

In general, you can get most of the information about a shape via the ShapeSheet cells. You get to these via:

Cells(cellName)
CellsU(cellName)
CellsSRC( section, row, column )

In C# some of these have a "get_" prepended.

Once you've got a ShapeSheet cell, you can ask it for a Formula, or a ResultIU, or a Result( unitCode )

ResultIU returns a numerical value. If the number has a length-meaning, then the number in Visio's internal units, which are inches.

For Protection, you're just interested in 1 (=protected) or 0 (=not protected), so ResultIU is the easiest way to check the value, and the results don't have anything to do with length, so you are just looking for 1 or 0.

[eggmatters]

Thanks! I will need to look into more specifics of the cells properties. Can you recommend a good resource that describes these?

[Visio Guy]

Visio has a developer's reference help file built in, but it's hard to use.

The Visio 2007 SDK has a nice help file

If you like to read, I can recommend two Visio development books that are both top notch:

1. The Visio 2003 Developer's Survival Pack is still relevant for Visio 2007 development.
2. David Parker's Visualizing Information with Microsoft Visio 2007 offers a great blend of advice for both über-power users and developers.