Connector with two labels at each end

[rskjels]

Dear all,

I'm quite new to Visio and my primary goal is to document networks.
What i'm looking for is a connector that has two or three labels attached to it.

What i have in mind would be something like these:

           (ip adress)
[shape]-------------(network)----------------[shape]
                                                (ipadresse)

           (Interface)
[shape]-------------(Vlan/circuit number)-- -----------[shape]
                                                             (Interface)


I have been looking for such a connector on Google and several Visio sites,
but to no avail. There are some suggestions to create a connector and two
text boxes and then grouping these together. The consensus seems to be
that this solution is seriously flawed, especially since the text boxes will
misalign when the connector is rotated.

I was wondering if someone on this forum knows about a connector that would
be optimal for documenting links between network devices. Or if someone has
another workaround. I'm using Visio 2007
 
Any comments would be most appreciated.

Thank you,
Rikard

[Jumpy]

I read about a solution in Graham Wideman's book which, if I remember correctly, works like this:

Make two text shapes (start and end). Group them.
Add a geometry section to the group.
Make the group 1D.
Set ObjTyp to 2 (for automatic connenctor behaviour).

So the group is now the connector.
Use the groups/connectors textblock as the middle one, as it will probaply automatically adjusted.

Now the tricky part:
Make a connection point nearly at each end of the connector/group. Visio will place them always near the ends of the connector and you can use them to see in which direction the end is connected to the shape and so place and rotate the text block accordingly.

------
That's from memory and may contain some errors, sorry.

[rskjels]

Thank you for your prompt reply, Jumpy

I'm very sorry for the delay in replying. Some real world issues got the best of me.

I feel that your suggestion is very close to what i want to achieve. For the sake of others reading this,
i will summarize what i have done.

1. I create two text boxes along an imaginary line.
2. Then i grouped them together.
3. Insert Menu ->  Field. Added Geometry section: Angle. This added a number in the grouped object that i removed in shapeSheet:HideText = TRUE
4. Format -> Behaviour: Made the group a Line(1-dimensional)
5. ShapeSheet: ObjType 2. This did not work for me. I was not able to rotate the "link". But by setting it to ObjType 10, i could rotate the "link"

The result is that the "link" now can attach it self to shapes and it can rotate. But there are still some outstanding issues:
The text labels will move out of place when i rotate the "link", especially if i rotate it to a horizontal position.
Another issue is that the text boxes will shrink or expand when the object/"link" is extended or shrunk.
Somehow i managed in my first attempt to make some text boxes that kept their size, but i have not been able to replicate this. I thought that
Format -> Behaviour -> Reposition only would take care of this. If someone could shed some light on this, i would be most grateful.

However, for the tricky part, i'm a little bewildered.
When the group/"link" is defined as a ObjType 10 it is turned into a kind of connector and thus gets a connection point at each end. Do i have to
add another connection point in the vicinity of the already existing connection points?

Thank you all for your time and patience in reading this post.


Regards,
Rikard

[Jumpy]

For the correct rezising:
If you want the textblock from changing its size, when the group is rezised, you have to look at the formulas of the width and height.
If they are sth. like Sheet.123!Width*0.43 they rezise when Sheet.123 (the group) rezises. You have to use direct values, like for example: 34 mm.
If you than use the GUARD function on top of it, nothing should happen to the textblock anymore, so for the width cell: =GUARD(34mm).

ObjType 2/10: Using 2 the Group becomes an outomatic connector and takes part at the automatic routing routines from Visio. Using 10=2+8 you allow the members of the group to take part in the routing, too, if they themselves have the value set to 2.

For the connection points:
When you made the group a connector, it got the green (in Visio2010 blue?) points that represent Begin and End of the Connector. Those points can glue (=connect) to other shapes. But they are not connection points themselves, that means other shapes can't connect to them. Normally that is not neccessary, because the connector should connect to sth. not the other way round.

My suggestion ot adding two connection points near beginning and end had another background: You could analyse then, if they have the same x or y coordinates like the Begin (or end) and so you know, if that end is horizonntal or vertical and can use that info to psition your textblock accordingly, and that is your main problem, like you said yourself.

[rskjels]

Dear Jumpy,

That makes sense. I managed to fix the resizing problem.
Thank you for explaining the intricacies of the connection/object types.
Back to the drawing board.

Thank you for your expertise.

Regards,
Rikard

[geh_heim]

i'm currently trying to do the same thing because we would like to see which ports are used for the fibre cables.

i tried the way explained here and got the connector but there is a problem:

u said something about creating extra connection points but how do i do that ? i know that is probably a very stupid question but when i use the "move connection point" oder whatever it is in english ^^
I can only select shapes but nothing happens.
Maybe you could explain that a bit more ?

[Jumpy]

When you use the Connection Point Tool, first click on a shape to select it.
Now if you click somewhere on the shape while pressing STRG (CTRL in engl.) a new CP is added.
When moving over a CP while still holding STRG key, cursor changes and you can move the CP.

So in short Strg is the key to this tool ;-)

[geh_heim]

stupid me

thx jumpy, i'll try it tomorrow , now it's finaly time to go home
nearly 9 hours a day are enough 

[kterik]

Thanks to all Visio experts! I followed the advices and experienced the problem with position of the text fields, when height or width of dynamic connector was less then 5 mm. I solved this problem using expressions for PinX, PinY and LocPinX, LocPinY of text fields, which you can see in attachment.
Also I find more complex and powerful decision (not my), which I also attached (file UNCONLABL.VSD).