How to change all Connectors

[Dennis]

Visio 2003

Well, I think I know what to do but not how to do it in a specific
Visio.vsd file.

I wish to change all connectors from "Universal connector.127"

To: "Dynamic connector.85"

Also, how do I make all connectors generated by the connector tool
to be "Dynamic connector.85"?

The answers to these will solve many issues that I have.

Any help is appreciated!

Dennis

 

[Chris Roth [ Visio MVP ]]

My razor-sharp Visio-developer sense is giving me the feeling there might be
a deeper problem, that could be solved in a completely different way.

Any chance you could describe the whole situation?

--

Hope this helps,

Chris Roth
Visio MVP

 

[Dennis]

Hello Chris,

My responsibility is to review numerous Visio files.

Quite often, what looks the same on the screen is not the same in reality.
Dynamic connectors vs. Universal connectors are a frustrating issue when it
comes time to re-do the more important aspects of the flowchart.vsd files.

Every day I learn how much more there is to know about Visio.

Since the files may need changing for many reasons, I would like to make
sure that a Dynamic connector (DC) that has a control handle (as you know one
can create a DC w/o a control handle to move the position-on-the-text-line)
is preferred.

Therefore, I would like to open a Visio file, select all connectors and
change them to a standard format. If there are any Universal Connectors I
would like to concert them to DC's. I have made sure that as of today that
all of the staff have the "preferred" dynamic connector in their stencil to
use in the future.

Thoughts?

Thanks Dennis

***************************************************

 

[Chris Roth [ Visio MVP ]]

A couple of things. I'm not sure if you're working with code, or by
hand...but this will get you started in the right direction.

Every document has a "local stencil" called the Document Stencil, where
masters are copied. Changes to these masters are reflected in all shapes in
the document. Go to: File > Shapes > Show Document Stencil to see it.

So, you could change a Universal Connector master so that it behaved more
like the Dynamic Connector. I don't think you can simply replace the shape
inside of the master with a new shape - that's too drastic. But you could
update the Universal Connector to behave like the Dynamic connector, and all
of the shapes in the doc will inherit this new behavior.

Another alternative is to replace the connectors on the page with the
Dynamic connector. This involves pre-scanning each shape for info, like who
it's connected to, it's text, etc. Then you delete the shape, drop a Dynamic
connector, give it the overrides from the shape, and you're up to date. The
part that might not work here is if the user has customized the routing
path. The new connector will just do it's automatic routing. Although you
might even be able to jam the geometry from the original into the new.

Does this make any sense or am I speaking Visio-ish too thickly?

--

Hope this helps,

Chris Roth
Visio MVP

 

[Dennis]

Chris,

Yesterday, I learned quite a bit about connectors. "Google Search"
helped me locate how to change a "line" to a connector by checking Page
Setup>Layout & Routing coupled with Format>Behaivor>Connector and the
value of ObjType. Also, that if the Connector tab is not in the
Behavior Box, then I am dealing with a line not a Dynamic connector.

To be trite, At the end of the day, if I could programatically change
the attribute?? ObjType of all non-dynamic connectors (NDC) to dynamic
(DC) (ShapeSheet>Miscellaneous>ObjType =2) AND make sure that all
modified DC's had a Control Handle (The little yellow square tilted 45
degrees which permits one to move the location of the connector's text
box) I would be very happy. The reason I want DC is to be able to
"jump" other non-intersecting connector lines.

I can work with VBA especially XL, some Word, and verrry little in
Visio.

Dennis