Comments on Wireframe Annotations in Visio : Special Deliverable #11

Tu Tran — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:50 GMT

Thanks for this article!

I’m not sure if DonnaM had this same situation and solution, but I couldn’t get the SHAPETEXT formula to work using the “annotation” name. ( the formula SHAPETEXT with field “annotation!TheText” returned a “bad shapesheet name.”)

I therefore had to use the name that was automatically given to the shape and reference that in the formula. I my case i used the field “Sheet.53!TheText”.

Also, the .25 diameter of the circle is small if you use 8 pt font and go into double digits, so users may want to increase the diameter from the beginning.

Joshua Turner — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:42 GMT

What about having a text area next to the footnote? You know for the footnote itself.

DonnaM — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:39:38 GMT

I have had troubles with the shapetext formula in Visio 2003 – don’t know why, I just get a ‘bad shapesheet name’.

To get around this, rather than naming and targeting the shape by name, find the shape ID (Format>Special, look for ID at the top), then use this formula:

=SHAPETEXT(sheet.ID!TheText)

Eric — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:08 GMT

Great series of articles on Visio. Unlike the Matrix, apparently we can be told what Visio is. ;-) I too would like to see an article on creating custom stencils!

In response to Mark about OmniGraffle, I wear a lot of hats including Information Architect, Database Architect, and Software Developer. I have to develop on Windows to meet my customer’s needs. Though Visio may not be the ideal tool for IA, it’s the best thing we have on Windows and it’s a good all-around workhorse that serves me well in many respects (UML, ER, and dataflow diagrams come to mind).

Dan — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:08 GMT

The stencil stuff is a little involved, which is why I left it out of this tutorial altogether. Xavier’s trick will work just fine, but he’s right about the grouping issue. Demand seems high enough to warrant a column on the subject. I’ve got a couple other tutorials I’m working on, but that will be next on my agenda…

Xavier Fan — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:39:41 GMT

Good article, Dan!

re: locking text

1) select the Foonote shape you’ve created
2) Windows -> Show ShapeSheet
3) in the Footnote ShapeSheet:
- Protection section -> “LockTextEdit”
- change value from 0 to 1

That’s it! Should now be unable to change the text in the Footnote shape.

re: saving into stencil

1) Open up your favorite custom stencil (or create a new one with File -> Shapes -> New Stencil)
2) Select both the Annotation and Footnote shape
3) Drag both of the shapes together into the Stencil
4) Save the stencil

Now, when you drop the new Annotation/Footnote shape onto a drawing, you’ll need to Ungroup it first to separate the two elements.

I haven’t figured out a way to let you drop it in as two separate shapes, rather than as a single grouped shape.

Tim — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:08 GMT

Having come from an architecture background I’ve referred to construction documents as a way of communicating rough ideas and even finished development specs.

Another technique is to use annotations (or call-outs) to point to another visio page that provides more detail on the subject area. (similar to archictectural details)

In my opinion (albeit biased, :-) ), construction documents are a great resource for discovering effective techniques for communicating complex information.

Having said that, it’s easy to forget that the tool should never dictate the need.

Good stuff.
Tim

Mark Wyner — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:39:41 GMT

I don’t want to begin a Mac/PC war with this comment, but those using Visio haven’t discovered the greatest IA application on the market: OmniGraffle.

http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/pro/
I use it extensively for everything IA, including Blueprints and WireFrames.

Ka-Ris-Toe-Fur — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:08 GMT

Hey Dan, good article.

Like john, I too have been playing this this widget looking for a way to save it as a stencil for re-use while keeping the name and formulas all working properly. If you have any suggestions – let us know.

john — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:08 GMT

So..

A) How do you “lock” the text so that it is still updating when changes are made (it’s not obvious and the documentation is scarce).

B) What’s the method that will work to save these two joined shapes in a Stencil for re-use??

thanks.

Dan Brown — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:24:50 GMT

Holly, I’m sorry you found the article confusing. I did test the method several times, but I recognize that I could not go into great detail on some of the steps.

Here’s a quick glossary to help you through it:

Annotation Widget: the entire finished product

Annotation Shape: the part of the widget that is used for pointing to different parts of the wireframe

Footnote Shape: the part of the widget that is used in the sidebar to refer to the annotation

Annotation Circle: the part of the annotation shape that is, well, a circle

I hope this helps. Do not hesistate to email me directly if you need further assistance!

Naznin Rao — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:08 GMT

This article is great for me – I recently began using Visio for Fish Bones and Call Flows and wasn’t aware of such advanced features. Please let me know of any other exciting features….. Meanwhile I am definitely going to explore many more on my own!!

Nathan Curtis — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:08 GMT

Another idea on creating your annotating pointer without the shapesheet, formula, and custom properties that leave my IA colleagues glossy eyed:

* Create square * Create circle (circle radius = square side length) * Orient circle on square, select both, then Group them * Create text object (and format it…) * Orient text object on top of circle/square, select all, then Group again (thus, giving you a two level hierarchy of groups) * Click into group (twice) until you highlight only circle/square subgroup * Use rotate handle (Visio 2003) or rotate tool (earlier Visio) to rotate just the circle/square subgroup, leaving text rotation untouched

Holly — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:08 GMT

This article was a bit hard to follow—there were several naming discrepencies, ie. which one is the annotation circle, footnote. Might want to test these instructions.

Michael Carignan — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:08 GMT

Dan, thanks for the continue series of tuitorials. This one was especially helpful. It saved me time on a large doc I was working on this evening. Cheers.