Visio5: How to Force a Dynamic Connector to Recalculate Its Path (254206)

SUMMARY

You can change the path of a dynamic connector by dragging midpoints and vertices. If you want to reset the connector's path, you can change ShapeSheet cells that control routing. This article explains how to do so, and includes sample Visual Basic for Applications code that you can use to create a macro that does this.

TIP: The procedures in this article require knowledge of the ShapeSheet window or Visual Basic for Applications. These procedures are not supported by Microsoft Technical Support. If you want to reset a connector's path without using the ShapeSheet window, simply drop a placeable shape on top of the connector, and then delete the shape. Many 2-D shapes are placeable by default. For more information, search on the word "placeable" using Visio Help.

MORE INFORMATION

Resetting a Dynamic Connector's Path

The value 1024 in the Misc.ObjBehavior cell of a dynamic connector's ShapeSheet window (shown in the following picture) indicates that you changed the connector's path. To reset the connector's path, you must remove this value.

Picture showing value to be removed

To remove the value 1024 and reset a connector's path:

In the Visio drawing, select the connector that you want to reset, and click Show ShapeSheet on the Windows menu.
In the Miscellaneous section of the ShapeSheet window, do the following:
1. Change the value in the ObjType cell to 0.
2. Select the ObjBehavior cell, and press DELETE to remove the value 1024.
3. Change the value in the ObjType cell back to 2.

The ObjType cell initially shows a value of 2; however, when ObjType is 2, Visio does not allow you to remove a value of 1024 from the ObjBehavior cell. Therefore, you must change the value of ObjType before changing ObjBehavior.

Sample Visual Basic for Applications Procedure

The following procedure steps though a selection of shapes and forces any dynamic connectors to recalculate their paths.

Public Sub ReCalcConnector()
    Dim visApp As Visio.Application
    Dim visSelection As Visio.Selection
    Dim visShape As Visio.Shape
    Dim i As Integer
    
    Set visApp = ThisDocument.Application
    Set visSelection = visApp.ActiveWindow.Selection
    
    'Check the count in the collection.
    '
    If visSelection.Count = 0 Then
        MsgBox "No Shape(s) selected.", vbOKOnly, "ReCalcConnector"
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    For i = 1 To visSelection.Count
        'Get the next item in the collection.
        '
        Set visShape = visSelection(i)
        'Check the shape type.
        '
        If visShape.Master = "Dynamic connector" Then
            'Force the dynamic connectors to recalculate their paths.
            '
            visShape.Cells("ObjType").Formula = 0
            visShape.Cells("ObjBehavior").Formula = 0
            DoEvents
            visShape.Cells("ObjType").Formula = 2
        End If
        
    Next i

End Sub