can't left-align text block with its shape

I am trying to do what I think should be a very simple task. I am placing a
shape of a computer on the page, and would like it to have a caption
underneath. When I type in the text box, the text grows equally to the left
and to the right. I would like it to grow to the right only. Also, I cannot
make the left edge of the text box align with the vertical centerline of the
shape. When I move the control handle, the left edge of the text box is
either to the left of the left edge of the bounding box of the shape, or to
the right of the right edge, but refuses to be align with the centerline, or
anywhere directly underneath the shape, for that matter.

Can you please help?

To get the behavior you want, you need to go into the shapesheet and edit one
entry. So, select your shape, then go to the menu bar Show shapesheet.

Scroll down the shapesheet until you come to the Text Transform section.
(If that section doesn't appear, you will need to right click in the
shapesheet window and either try the Insert Section or View Section. Look
for the Text Transform entry and select it.)

Find the cell identified as TxtLocPinX. The entry will probably show
"TxtWidth*0.5" . Change this to "TxtWidth*0" -- without the quotes.

That should do it. Now the left side of the text will align with the
control diamond.

HTH
Wapperdude



"transmodus" wrote:

I am trying to do what I think should be a very simple task. I am placing a
shape of a computer on the page, and would like it to have a caption
underneath. When I type in the text box, the text grows equally to the left
and to the right. I would like it to grow to the right only. Also, I cannot
make the left edge of the text box align with the vertical centerline of the
shape. When I move the control handle, the left edge of the text box is
either to the left of the left edge of the bounding box of the shape, or to
the right of the right edge, but refuses to be align with the centerline, or
anywhere directly underneath the shape, for that matter.

Can you please help?

Whoops! That first sentence should be menu bar Window show shapesheet.



"WapperDude" wrote:

To get the behavior you want, you need to go into the shapesheet and edit one
entry. So, select your shape, then go to the menu bar Show shapesheet.

Scroll down the shapesheet until you come to the Text Transform section.
(If that section doesn't appear, you will need to right click in the
shapesheet window and either try the Insert Section or View Section. Look
for the Text Transform entry and select it.)

Find the cell identified as TxtLocPinX. The entry will probably show
"TxtWidth*0.5" . Change this to "TxtWidth*0" -- without the quotes.

That should do it. Now the left side of the text will align with the
control diamond.

HTH
Wapperdude



"transmodus" wrote:

I am trying to do what I think should be a very simple task. I am placing a
shape of a computer on the page, and would like it to have a caption
underneath. When I type in the text box, the text grows equally to the left
and to the right. I would like it to grow to the right only. Also, I cannot
make the left edge of the text box align with the vertical centerline of the
shape. When I move the control handle, the left edge of the text box is
either to the left of the left edge of the bounding box of the shape, or to
the right of the right edge, but refuses to be align with the centerline, or
anywhere directly underneath the shape, for that matter.

Can you please help?

Hi TM,

A lot of Visio shapes have text that can be moved around using a little
yellow control handle. The text is centered on the location of that
point, and the size of the text block grows with the text.

So Left-aligning won't help you because the text block "knows" how big
it is, and insists on centering itself. It is like you left aligned text
on a page, but then the page moves over

If you open the ShapeSheet for a network shape (Window Show
ShapeSheet), you can scroll down to nearly the bottom, where you'll find
the Text Transform section. In this section is a cell called TxtLocPinX.

Set TxtLocPinX = 0 if you want your text to be left-aligned (to the
right) of the control handle. For right-aligned text, you would set
TxtLocPinX = TxtWidth


--
Hope this helps,

Chris Roth
Visio MVP


Visio Guy: Smart Graphics for Visual People

Articles: http://www.visguy.com
Shapes: http://www.visguy.com/shapes
Dev: http://www.visguy.com/category/development/
Forum: http://www.viguy.com/vgforum

transmodus wrote:
I am trying to do what I think should be a very simple task. I am placing a
shape of a computer on the page, and would like it to have a caption
underneath. When I type in the text box, the text grows equally to the left
and to the right. I would like it to grow to the right only. Also, I cannot
make the left edge of the text box align with the vertical centerline of the
shape. When I move the control handle, the left edge of the text box is
either to the left of the left edge of the bounding box of the shape, or to
the right of the right edge, but refuses to be align with the centerline, or
anywhere directly underneath the shape, for that matter.

Can you please help?