Controlling Connections with Glue

Glue is what keeps connectors attached to shapes. When a connector is glued to a shape, Visio 2007 displays the connector's endpoints in red. By default, Visio 2007 can glue shapes to guides and 1-D shapes, and connectors to connection points. However, you can prevent Visio 2007 from connecting shapes with glue, and you can specify other points where Visio 2007 can glue shapes with the options in the Snap & Glue dialog box, as Figure 3-17 shows. For example, you can glue connectors to the edges of a shape.

Figure 3-17: Choose Tools, Snap & Glue to control the glue settings that Visio 2007 uses when you connect shapes.

Follow these steps to prevent Visio 2007 from connecting shapes with glue:

1. Choose Tools, Snap & Glue.

2. Under Currently Active, clear the Glue check box.

3. Click OK.

Follow these steps to specify where Visio 2007 can glue shapes:

1. Choose Tools, Snap & Glue.

2. Under Glue To, select the options you want from among the following:

   • Shape Geometry Select this check box to glue 1-D shapes to any point on a shape's edge.

   • Guides Select this check box to glue 1-D and 2-D shapes to guides.

   • Shape Handles Select this check box to glue 1-D shapes to the selection handles on another shape.

   • Shape Vertices Select this check box to glue 1-D shapes to the vertices on another shape.

   • Connection Points Select this check box to glue 1-D shapes to the connection point on another shape.

Note 

The options you specify in the Snap & Glue dialog box affect all the pages in your drawing file.

Inside Out 

Glue in the ShapeSheet window

In case you want to create your own shapes or are just curious, Visio 2007 records the type of glue that's used in the GlueType cell of a connector's ShapeSheet. Glue type corresponds to the connection type. For example, a point-to-point connection uses point-to-point, or static, glue. A shape-to-shape connection uses dynamic glue. When you reconnect shapes using a different type of connection, you change the value of the GlueType cell. A value of 0 means static glue; a value of 3 means dynamic glue.