Working with Geometry in DatadiagramML

  • Article

All ShapeSheet sections are implied in the DatadiagramML file format with the exception of Geometry sections. This is because unlike other ShapeSheet sections, more than one Geometry section can exist in a ShapeSheet spreadsheet.

The elements that represent rows in the Geometry section of the ShapeSheet—for example, MoveTo or LineTo elements—are children of the Geom element.

Geom elements have two optional attributes:

  • The IX attribute, which specifies the index of the element within the parent element. The value of the IX attribute in geometry elements is 1-based.

  • The Del attribute. The attribute's value, 1, indicates that the element has been deleted locally.

Local deletion

Just like you can delete any element that represents a sheet row or a section, you can locally delete a Geom element or any of the row elements that are children of the Geom element.

Consider the following example. The Master element contains three Geom elements, each representing a polygon:

<Master ID='0'>
   ...
   <Geom IX='0'> ... </Geom>
   <Geom IX='1'> ... </Geom>
   <Geom IX='2'> ... </Geom>
   ...
</Master>

When it is displayed, the master looks as follows:

<media mediatype="gif" filename="XML_02_ZA07645867.gif" assetid="ZA07645867" lcid=" " alttext="A Master element that contains three Geom elements, each representing a different polygon (square, circle, triangle)"/>

The following code example demonstrates how an instance of the master can locally delete one of the Geom elements:

<Shape ID='99' Master='0'>
   ...
   <Geom IX='2' Del='1'>
   ...
</Shape>

When displayed, the instance looks as follows:

<media mediatype="gif" filename="XML_03_ZA07645868.gif" assetid="ZA07645868" lcid=" " alttext="An instance shape of a master with one Geom element deleted locally. Now only the square and circle remain."/>