Can edits to master shapes trickle down to existing instances?

Hi. OK, I've figured out how to create and modify a master shape now, thanks
to the post below. However, none of the changes I make to the master seem to
get applied to instances of it that already exist on the page. I
double-clicked the master to edit it, made a change, closed the master
window, a dialog asked me if I wanted to update the master shape, and I said
yes. Now, any new instances of the shape that I create have the changes, but
none of the changes show up in
previous instances. Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Mike


"Mark Nelson [MS]" wrote:

Visio definitely has masters. Those are the shapes you drag out from
stencils into your document. You could combine several shapes together and
create a new master from them. Go to File Shapes New Stencil or File
Shapes Show Document Stencil to open an editable stencil. Then drag your
assembly of shapes from the drawing to the stencil. You can double-click
the master shape to edit it, and changes will be propagated to your drawing.

Another useful feature is background pages. You could create your basic
workspace mock-up on a background page and reuse it with many foreground
pages. You put more changeable elements on the foreground page. We use
this technique internally to create user interface walkthroughs. A
background page contains the full workspace UI. Then foreground pages are
created with just the pieces of the UI that are changing as the "user"
works. The whole set of pages is played as a presentation in full screen
mode. Go to File Page Setup Page Properties to set up foreground and
background pages. Go to the View menu for full screen mode.

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Mike" wrote in message
news
Hi. I'm designing a series of mockups in Visio for a user interface. One
of
my files has several pages in it, each one showing different aspects of
the
interface. Unfortunately, as I continue, I make tweaks and modifications
to
the new pages here and there that I then have to go and repeat on each of
the
previous pages (to maintain consistency).

Is there a way to build a "template" of sorts that I can use as the basic
interface design across multiple pages, such that if I make changes to
that
template, those changes will propagate across all pages using it? I guess
the
function would be somewhat similar to Powerpoint's "view master" function,
which lets you modify several pages at once by making changes just to the
master. Is there an analogous function in Visio? Does it involve the Visio
programming functions (with which I am pretty much unfamiliar)?

Thanks for any help,
Mike

Instead of using masters, I would consider creating
Background pages, then use those as backgrounds for your
other pages (page setup), whenever you change the
background page the changes will be reflected in all the
other pages that use that background. You can have
multiple background pages.

HTH
Stephen
-----Original Message-----
Hi. OK, I've figured out how to create and modify a
master shape now, thanks
to the post below. However, none of the changes I make
to the master seem to
get applied to instances of it that already exist on the
page. I
double-clicked the master to edit it, made a change,
closed the master
window, a dialog asked me if I wanted to update the
master shape, and I said
yes. Now, any new instances of the shape that I create
have the changes, but
none of the changes show up in
previous instances. Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Mike


"Mark Nelson [MS]" wrote:

Visio definitely has masters. Those are the shapes
you drag out from
stencils into your document. You could combine
several shapes together and
create a new master from them. Go to File Shapes
New Stencil or File
Shapes Show Document Stencil to open an editable
stencil. Then drag your
assembly of shapes from the drawing to the stencil.
You can double-click
the master shape to edit it, and changes will be
propagated to your drawing.

Another useful feature is background pages. You could
create your basic
workspace mock-up on a background page and reuse it
with many foreground
pages. You put more changeable elements on the
foreground page. We use
this technique internally to create user interface
walkthroughs. A
background page contains the full workspace UI. Then
foreground pages are
created with just the pieces of the UI that are
changing as the "user"
works. The whole set of pages is played as a
presentation in full screen
mode. Go to File Page Setup Page Properties to
set up foreground and
background pages. Go to the View menu for full screen
mode.

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties,
and confers no rights.

"Mike" wrote in
message
newsB1D4163-E68F-4380-947E-
...
Hi. I'm designing a series of mockups in Visio for a
user interface. One
of
my files has several pages in it, each one showing
different aspects of
the
interface. Unfortunately, as I continue, I make
tweaks and modifications
to
the new pages here and there that I then have to go
and repeat on each of
the
previous pages (to maintain consistency).

Is there a way to build a "template" of sorts that I
can use as the basic
interface design across multiple pages, such that if
I make changes to
that
template, those changes will propagate across all
pages using it? I guess
the
function would be somewhat similar to
Powerpoint's "view master" function,
which lets you modify several pages at once by
making changes just to the
master. Is there an analogous function in Visio?
Does it involve the Visio
programming functions (with which I am pretty much
unfamiliar)?

Thanks for any help,
Mike



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