Connection Points Moving When Shape Resized

[travcoe21]

Helo --

Is there any way to make connection points stay where they are when you
resize a shape? Their location is scaling with the resize operation and it's
driving me nuts!

For example, I have a tall rectange with some connection points arrayed
along one of the verticals. I'm not sure how many I need at first, which is
why I make the rectangle tall. Once I have all the points added that I need,
I would like to be able to resize the rectangle to be just tall enough to
encompass all the connections.

Thanks,

Jeff Travis

 

[David J Parker [MVP Visio]]

You need edit the formulae in the ShapeSheet cells for the X and Y positions
of each Connection Point.
By default, the formulae will be relative to the Width or Height of the
shape, but it sounds like you want to make the Y position absolute.
For example, Y=Height*0.2 will ensure that the Y position is always one
fifth of the height of the shape, but if you change the formula to Y=1 in.,
then it will always be 1 in. from the bottom of the shape.

If your Y positions are multiples of a constant, then consider creating a
User defined cell that stores the constant value.
Eg, User.YSpaceHt=1 in, then protect the formulae in the Connections Y cells
something like: Y=GUARD(0*User.YSpaceHt), Y=GUARD(1*User.YSpaceHt),
Y=GUARD(2*User.YSpaceHt), etc.

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa200959(office.10).aspx for
more information

 

[travcoe21]

Thanks for this response, David. I will consider the approach you recommend
for the future.

Follow-on question: is it possible to set the ShapeSheet so that the
position defaults to absolute? In my example, having the X coordinate
relative is great, that keeps the connection points on the verticals when I
adjust the width. But if I could set the Y coordinate to default to absolute
it would make life easier when I create a similar new object.

With the object I'm looking at, I have enough connection points so that it
would be easier to delete the points prior to resizing and add them back
afterwards than it would be to edit the formulae for each one.

Thanks again for your help,

Jeff

 

[David J Parker [MVP Visio]]

Have you looked at the ConnectionPts section in the Rack or Cabinet shape in
the Rack Mounted Equipment stencil in Visio Professional 2007?