Flashing shape in Visio 2003

[bernie_s]

Is it possible to have a flashing shape in Visio 2003? I am developing a
tool to assist with work planning where proposed work at a particular
location, on a particular date will cause values in an Access 2003 table to
change (dependant on type of work, etc). When i refresh the Visio diagram
from the Access table, i would like the shape that represents the work
location to flash. Is this possible?

 

[David Parker]

This is something I have pondered too, as the CAD system I used to use did
have the ability to flash by assigning a particular color number.

Visio does not have this ability, so I offer a few alternatives for your
consideration:

1. Use a ShapeSheet forumula that uses the Now() function to change the fill
color to White and back at an interval. Don't like because it can use a lot
of resources, and Visio shapes can be very complex, thus setting the right
sub-shape fill color can be challenging.

2. Use a ShapeSheet formula using the Now() function to display a SmartTag
on each shape. Better than 1 because not requiring deep analysis of complex
Visio shapes. SmartTag icons and display text can be useful to aid
understanding, and their visibility can be toggled easily, plus they can be
seen at all zoom levels.

3. Use code to add page Comments - these are stored in the PageSheet with a
co-ordinate, date, id and text. Perhaps better than either one above
because the actual shapes do not need to be touched. (A variation of
Comments in the same page is to use Reviewers Comments which are actually
stored in a different associated page,) The Reviewing pane can be used to
see a list of Comments too.

If you have complete control of your shape library, then 1 or 2 could be
made to work without extra coding, since you could link the display to
ShapeSheet cell values that are refreshed from your Access database.

If you do not have complete control of your shape library, and you don't
mind some (VBA) coding, then perhaps 3 would be best, as it does not require
the shapes to be touched, since you can refrence the shapes PinX and PinY in
the Comment definition.

 

[bernie_s]

thanks for your responses.

i had thought i'd probably have to write some code to do what i would like
to. i had the faint hope that there was a 'quick and dirty' option that
would work - not to be.

bernie

 

[vojo]

now() wont work...its a point in time function...not a continual/periodic
refresh function. You would need to click the shape over and over again to
get updates at will.

Probably need to get a timer running in VB or C++ or or or
Lots of examples out there.

 

[sbmack7]

now() wont work...its a point in time function...not a continual/periodic
refresh function.   You would need to click the shape over and over again to
get updates at will.

Probably need to get a timer running in VB or C++ or or or
Lots of examples out there.

Bernie,

My graduate degree is in Operations Research which is Applied
Mathematics (hopefully applied to real life problems.) One thing I
figured out a long time ago after a few years of over-modeling and
confusing my clients was the need to keep my eye on ball. Which
centered on this question, "what fundamental objective am I trying to
satisfy?" Once I shifted my focus from how to model to how to
satisfy, I avoided lot of unnecessary headaches. (And the client
avoided spending lot of money.)

Sorry for the bit of philosophy. Let's see, why is that relevant?
Oh, yeah. Your fundamental objective appears to be to present a
visual cue to the user when some state change has occurred. Whether
the cue flashes or not is irrelevant as long as the it satisfies it's
intended purpose.

That said, it seems that the simplest way to present a visual cue
would be by adding a logical data type element to your shapes with
it's value conditioned on whatever temporal event you are tracking.
The event occurs, the value changes for False to True. Then use that
value to show a data graphic on the shapes associated with the
changes.

And you could easily modify a DG Icon master (duplicate the icon in
the Drawing Explorer, edit the copy and increase it's size to some
"can't miss it visually" amount by adjusting is shape sheet height and
width values. And viola! You've solved the visual cue objective with
flashing.

SteveM

P.S. Programmers - God bless 'em. A lot of guys never picked up on
the model versus objective distinction. (OR guys too.)