Microsoft Office Reference Guide

Mar 26, 2004

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If you've read my overview for the Office Guide, you know that I am a big fan of Visio and even may be an (unpaid) evangelist for expanding its uses beyond architecture and network engineering.

To take Visio to another level, we're going to illustrate the beauty of putting shapes on different layers, and then automate the visible and invisible property of layers with a command button.

In plain English, we'll create items in our diagram that we can show or hide with the push of a button.

Let's start with a simple diagram with two parametric shapes. What this means is that, within the actual scale of the diagram, these shapes have precise dimensions which can be adjusted in the Visio ShapeSheet. Their dimensions relate exactly to the dimensions of the space (room) in which they're in, and even potentially to their properties.

For example, if these boxes referred to amplifiers, you could write formulas whereby their height and width related directly to their power in amps, thereby representing their relative strength by their size...

But I digress. Here's a simple diagram with two rectangles with no custom properties.

Figure 629

Let's review custom properties by looking ahead to the final diagram, which represents a complex workspace with wiring. If I click on an object to which I have assigned custom properties, I can track them in the custom properties window. Here I have properties assigned for my electronic components.

Figure 630

The beauty of custom properties is that you can easily create a custom property report and compile all of the relevant information into a spreadsheet.

Look at the complex diagram in the preceding figure. Imagine how helpful it would be if we could instantly simplify the information by hiding some of the information.

For example, with the many wires represented by connectors – what if we could isolate video wires from audio wires?

Let's return to the new diagram and click View > Layer Properties. Notice that we have one standard layer for all connectors.

If you click New, now you can add another layer and give it your own name, like "audio."

Figure 631

With the new layer created, we're ready to rock and roll.

We click on the connector button, and attach a simple connector between our two shapes. Let's pretend it's an audio cable or wire. Right-click on the connector, and choose Format > Layer.

Figure 632

Voila – we can assign the new connector to the audio layer and remove it from the connector layer.

Figure 633

Now, since we don't want to open the Layer Properties window all of the time, we want a control button that turns our layers on and off. We click Insert > Control, and choose the MS Forms Command Button.

This is the same button we used in our first User Form, which we covered in a recent update on Word and VBA. Yes, we're going to use some code.

Figure 634

When we click OK, the button is placed into the diagram.

Now it gets a bit tricky. To work with these tools you need to use the Developer Toolbar in Visio. Click View > Toolbars > Developer, and then make sure that you click to access the Design view. This is the same as the Design view in Access; by toggling in- and out-of Design mode, you change between using the controls and designing them.

Figure 635

Right now, we want to design the control button. We can right-click it, and change its properties to add a caption and change its colors, as we did in the example in our User Form.

But this time, when we right-click, we're going to add Code.

We'll right-click to access the View Code window.

Figure 636

And paste the proper code into the click action subroutine for the selected command button.

Figure 637

Here's the code to hide the shapes assigned to the "audio" layer:

Dim LayersObj As Visio.Layers
Dim LayerObj As Visio.Layer
Dim LayerName As String
Dim LayerCellObj As Visio.Cell
Set LayersObj = ActivePage.Layers
For Each LayerObj In LayersObj
LayerName = LayerObj.Name
' Debug.Print LayerName
  If LayerName = "audio" Then
    Set LayerCellObj = LayerObj.CellsC(visLayerVisible)
 LayerCellObj.Formula = False Or 0
  End If
Next

What this does is assign a variable into which the layer name is placed. For each shape that is on that layer, it hides the shape (makes the layer visible property = 0 (false)) or invisible.

Now, if we return to the Visio diagram, and change from Design mode to Normal mode on the Developer toolbar, clicking the button makes the line invisible.

To show the line, we can simply reopen the Layer properties window; change the property of the audio layer to visible; and click Apply and OK.

Of course, the easiest way to show the layer again is to create another button, with slightly different code:

Dim LayersObj As Visio.Layers
Dim LayerObj As Visio.Layer
Dim LayerName As String
Dim LayerCellObj As Visio.Cell
Set LayersObj = ActivePage.Layers
For Each LayerObj In LayersObj
LayerName = LayerObj.Name
' Debug.Print LayerName
  If LayerName = "audio" Then
  Set LayerCellObj = LayerObj.CellsC(visLayerVisible)
 LayerCellObj.Formula = True Or 1
  End If
Next

This time, the visible property is set to true, or visible. To use your own layer names, just substitute their name(s) in the code for "audio." Keep cases consistent!

A completed wiring diagram such as this can be shown full screen (View > Full Screen or F5) and the buttons still work! (Make sure you're out of Developer mode).

Figure 638

This is a very cool interactive diagram or presentation. Unfortunately, to make it work in PowerPoint requires that it remain a Visio object; the best way to actually use it is to create a hyperlink to it. Also, it won't work in a Web page, unless you convert all of the code. But as a Visio diagram, it is extremely functional.

I am certain that you will instantly see applications in your own work in which hiding or showing certain objects depending upon which layer they're assigned to can be extremely useful. If you have such examples, I'd love to hear about them.

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