Get a shape to display its area and its dimensions?

[Jennifer]

I hope this is the right forum for this question.

I know how to get a line to display its length using Insert | Field and selecting the Geometry category.

I just experimented with the Custom Formula option. I was able to get a rectangle to display its area using the formula

     =Width*Height

and a circle using

   =((Width/2)^2)*PI()

Magic!

Is there a way to get them to display both the dimensions and the area like this:

   2.0 x 3.0
       6.0

or maybe

         18.69
    (3.25 x 5.75)

Thanks

[aledlund]

David Parker did some materials on this type of problem
http://davidjpp.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/automating-area-and-perimeter-length-shape-data/
al

[Jennifer]

Al,

Thanks for the link. That looks like a very comprehensive solution, but I'm afraid it's overkill for me.

All I want to do is mix geometry values with text and may do a little simple arithmetic on the values.

I was hoping for something one of these using the Custom Formula option:

   =width "x" height

or

   =width & "x" & height

Is anything like that possible?

[aledlund]

Your 'simple' solution can be handled for simple shapes by adding a shape data cell to do the math and then adding a text field to do the formatting. However the smarts to have a general solution that works across multiple types of shapes will probably require some code. As an example putting your circle formula into a rectangle shape is probably inappropriate.
al

[Jennifer]

I'm not looking for a general solution. All I want to do is be able to intermix (concatentate?) values and text for one specific shape on one specific drawing.

In Excel, for example, I can specify a custom format like [0.00 "feet"]. Or I can concatenate text and numeric data using the "&" operator [=A1 & "x" & B1] and various formatting functions such as text().

It sounds like nothing like that is available in Visio.

[aledlund]

Jennifer,
David did something like that over here
http://davidjpp.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/formatting-custom-units-in-visio/

certainly less complicated and more appropriate to what you are attempting to accomplish. Obviously you don't need the data graphics part of the discussion.

al