dynamic connection point after glue-to-shape-geometry

[Paul]

In Visio 2003, I've got connections between shapes by turning on glue-
to-shape-geometry. That simplifies my schematic alot, since I don't
need all sorts of corners in order to conform to a rectilinear path.

However, when I move entire chunks of my network around, the
connection points don't adjust themselves to be the closest points on
the perimeters of two connected objects. Is there a way to do this?

The manner in which the connection points change that would be
intuitive is for an imaginary line to connect the centroids of the two
connected shaps, and the connection points would be where this
imaginary line intersects with the perimeters of the two shapes. But
perhaps this is too wishful.

 

[Paul Herber]

In Visio 2003, I've got connections between shapes by turning on glue-
to-shape-geometry. That simplifies my schematic alot, since I don't
need all sorts of corners in order to conform to a rectilinear path.

However, when I move entire chunks of my network around, the
connection points don't adjust themselves to be the closest points on
the perimeters of two connected objects. Is there a way to do this?

The manner in which the connection points change that would be
intuitive is for an imaginary line to connect the centroids of the two
connected shaps, and the connection points would be where this
imaginary line intersects with the perimeters of the two shapes. But
perhaps this is too wishful.

If you turn off all the glue option sthen this is exactly what you
get. Playing with the Snap and Glue options can be fun.

 

[Paul]

Hmmm. OK. Thanks.

If you turn off all the glue option sthen this is exactly what you
get. Playing with the Snap and Glue options can be fun.

 

[Paul]

I just turned off "Glue to Shape Geometry", but I don't get the
desired behaviour that I described. That is, if shape A is connected
to shape B via line C (C has arrowheads at both ends), moving A around
does not change where line C connects to either A or B. At this
point, all icons on the "Snap & Glue" menu are unpressed, with the
exception of "Toggle Snape" and "Toggle Glue"

I also tried drawing a new line connecting A and B, but it doesn't
stick to the shapes.

Hmmm. OK. Thanks.

If you turn off all the glue option sthen this is exactly what you
get. Playing with the Snap and Glue options can be fun.

 

[WapperDude]

Hi Paul --
Did you ever get the behavior you desired? I tried different options, and
what seemed to work the best was turning off the snap behavior, and only
enabling glue to geometry option. Then, there are two cases you can try, the
1st probably does the best:
1.) Using the dynamic connector to connect shapes, place the ends of the
connector over the shape such that the shape's entire outline turns red,
i.e., the entire shape is a connector point. This will give you "4-sided"
connectivity. Then, after you place your shape, click on the connector line
and you can grab its end and slide it around the shape perimeter as necessary.

2.) Using the dynamic connector, connect directly to the shape outline--any
where on the shape. This locks the connection to that spot, but once you've
moved and placed the shapes, you can go back an move this point as in 1.)
above.

Unfortunately, the behavior of the dynamic connectors will probably always
result in manual re-routing after placement. You can go to the Page Setup
pop-up menu, and play with the routing options, but, I've never had 100%
success. Dedicated schematic capture programs seem to do this rubber banding
better.

Wapperdude

I just turned off "Glue to Shape Geometry", but I don't get the
desired behaviour that I described. That is, if shape A is connected
to shape B via line C (C has arrowheads at both ends), moving A around
does not change where line C connects to either A or B. At this
point, all icons on the "Snap & Glue" menu are unpressed, with the
exception of "Toggle Snape" and "Toggle Glue"

I also tried drawing a new line connecting A and B, but it doesn't
stick to the shapes.

Hmmm. OK. Thanks.

In Visio 2003, I've got connections between shapes by turning on glue-
to-shape-geometry. That simplifies my schematic alot, since I don't
need all sorts of corners in order to conform to a rectilinear path.

However, when I move entire chunks of my network around, the
connection points don't adjust themselves to be the closest points on
the perimeters of two connected objects. Is there a way to do this?

The manner in which the connection points change that would be
intuitive is for an imaginary line to connect the centroids of the two
connected shaps, and the connection points would be where this
imaginary line intersects with the perimeters of the two shapes. But
perhaps this is too wishful.

If you turn off all the glue option sthen this is exactly what you
get. Playing with the Snap and Glue options can be fun.

 

[WapperDude]

Found this article that describes this placing and routing issue, reference
Al Edlund's reply to "Is there anyway to avoid line overlapping
automatically?" in the Developer section:
http://blogs.msdn.com/visio/archive/2006/09/15/756352.aspx

Wapperdude

 

[Paul]

I've had to move back to Visio 2000. I just tried some ideas in the
article. Dynamic glue only works when Shape Handles is pressed. Not
when Shape Geometry is pressed. Another complication is that the
arrow head is located at the center of the shape rather than the
edge. But it was a good idea to try. Thanks.