Connection Points Row (Connection Points Section)
Contains the x - and y -coordinates, horizontal and vertical direction, and type for a single connection point on a shape. Coordinates of connection points are measured from the origin of the shape. A shape contains one Connection Points row for each connection point.
If Connection Points rows are named, those names appear as Connections. name in the ShapeSheet window. Connection Points rows contain the following cells. For more details, see the specific cell topics.
| Cell | Description |
|---|---|
| X |
The x -coordinate for a connection point in local coordinates. |
| Y |
The y -coordinate for a connection point in local coordinates. |
| DirX/A |
The x -component for the required alignment vector of a matching connection point. It is also used to orient the attached leg of a dynamic connector. This cell takes a floating point value. |
| DirY/B |
The y -component for the required alignment vector of a matching connection point. It is also used to orient the attached leg of a dynamic connector. This cell takes a floating point value. |
| Type/C |
The connection point type (0 = inward; 1 = outward; 2 = inward + outward). |
| D |
A scratch cell that you can use for entering or testing formulas. To access this cell, right-click a row, and then click Change Row Type on the shortcut menu. |
Remarks
Cells in the Connections. name row are labeled DirX/A, DirY/B, and Type/C because these rows can be extended or non-extended rows.
Most connection points (all connection points created through the user interface) are non-extended and have DirX, DirY, and Type cells. Their row type is visTagCnnctPt or visTagCnnctNamed.
In non-extended rows the DirX and DirY cells together define a direction vector that influences the rotation of shapes involved in connections using the connection point. If both are zero the point is directionless. Connection points are of the following types:
Inward (0), which means that shapes glue to them. This is the default.
Outward (1), which means these connection points will glue to inward connection points.
Both inward and outward (2), in which case the direction is the inward direction, which is reversed if used as an outward connection.
Extended rows have A, B, C, and D cells and behave like directionless non-extended rows of type Inward. Extended rows are not commonly used, but you might use them to associate data with a connection point in the A, B, C, and D cells. Their row type is visTagCnnctPtABCD or visTagCnnctNamedABCD. Extended rows can be identified by the presence of a formula in the D cell.
You can add as many Connections. name rows as you need, assign meaningful names to the rows, and set cell values. To add a connection point to an existing Connection Points section, right-click a row and click Insert Row on the shortcut menu.
You can reference Connection Points row cells by their row name, which appears in a ShapeSheet window in red text. To change the row name, click it, and then type a name such as Custom, for example, to create the row name Connections.Custom. You can then reference the X cell using Connections.Custom.X, for example, or Connections.X1 if you want to use the row number.
The row name you enter must be unique within the section. When you create a name for one row in the Connection Points section, Microsoft Office Visio names all the rows in the section with the default name, Connections.Row_ n.
Named Connection Points rows are not compatible with versions of Visio earlier than 5.0. When saving a Visio drawing file with named Connection Points rows to an earlier format, references to named Connection Points rows are converted to indexed references, and the row names are lost.