Visio2000: ShapeSheet: Information About the Geometry Section (279284)

SUMMARY

This article contains information about the Geometry section of the ShapeSheet.

To display the ShapeSheet of a shape, select the shape, and then click Show ShapeSheet on the Window menu. You can also enable developer mode to have right-click access to the Show ShapeSheet command. To have right-click access to the Show ShapeSheet command, follow these steps:

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Advanced tab.
Click to select the Run in developer mode check box.
Click OK.

Right-click any shape, and note that the shortcut menu now contains the Show ShapeSheet command.

MORE INFORMATION

A shape's path is recorded as a series of X,Y coordinate pairs called vertices, measured from a point of origin for the shape and connected with line, arc, or spline segments between the vertices.

The Geometry section inserts a section for coordinates of the vertices for the lines and arcs that make up the shape. If the shape has more than one path, it has a Geometry section for each path.

In the ShapeSheet, each row in this section defines one vertex. Vertices are calculated by using formulas that refer to the shape's width and height. You can control a shape's vertices by writing your own formulas in the shape's Geometry section.

To control a shape's size or position, you describe it in terms of a Cartesian (X,Y) coordinate system. The coordinate system for the page is expressed the same way. The origin is in the lower-left corner of the page. The positive X direction corresponds to the page's width. The positive Y direction corresponds to the page's height.

NOTE: The origin remains the same, even if the ruler view of the page has been changed

Shapes always reside on a page (not floating). The page can be thought of as the parent of the shapes it contains.

The shape has its own local coordinate system similar to that of the page. The shape's origin is in the lower-left corner of the shape's alignment box. The positive X direction corresponds to the shape's width and the positive Y direction corresponds to the shape's height.

The parent coordinate system of the shape is the local coordinate system of the shape's parent. The parent of a shape is the page unless the shape is a member of a group, in which case the group is the parent.

The coordinate system of a group is defined in the same way as the coordinate system of a shape.

The page is the ultimate parent of everything it contains.

To see how the Geometry section works with your objects:

Using the Rectangle tool, draw a rectangle of any reasonable size.
Display the Geometry section in the ShapeSheet.
Note that a Geometry section represents a single path--a shape can have more than one.
Note that default X and Y formulas refer to the shape's width and height.