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Microsoft Visio 2010 : Using Special Shape Features (part 1) - Right-Click Actions,Shape Data Fields

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Visio shapes are often referred to as SmartShapes because shape designers can add functionality to make them more useful. A lot of these extra goodies go undiscovered, however, because users don’t know where to look.

This section gives a rundown of the bonus features that a shape might possess and shows you where to find them.

Right-Click Actions

One of my favorite tips for Visio users is to “right-click shapes like there’s no tomorrow!” The context menu is one of the first places to look to find custom actions that have been added to a shape.

Custom actions can trigger textual and graphical changes to the shape, show and hide elements, change the way a shape resizes, pop up dialogs, and even communicate with add-ins.

Figure 1 compares the right-click menus of four sample shapes.

Figure 1. Right-click context menus reveal additional functionality for SmartShapes. Typical locations for custom actions are at the top and bottom of the menu.

The first rectangle in Figure 1 shows the unaltered menu for a default Visio shape. Compare it to the other three, which have custom menu items—most of which are at the top of the menu. Sometimes, custom items appear at the bottom, as the two shapes with “Properties” illustrate.

Shape Data Fields

By now you are well aware that Visio shapes can contain data. Many of the shapes that come with Visio are already populated with Shape Data fields.

If you want to see Shape Data fields, the Shape Data window needs to be visible, and one or more shapes must be selected. If the window isn’t visible, just right-click a shape and choose Data, Shape Data. Alternatively, use the Ribbon and go to View, Show, Task Panes, Shape Data.

Understand that Shape Data fields hold data that can be purely informational or can affect the appearance of the shape (see Figure 2). You can manually edit fields or link them to external data. And you can visualize shape data using Data Graphics if you have Visio Pro or Premium.

Figure 2. Visio network shapes carry lots of Shape Data fields that store information about the hardware and the organization, but don’t affect appearance. The Sankey diagram arrow below has Shape Data fields that control its appearance.
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