Microsoft KB Archive/299213

= Visio2002: You Cannot Add Labels to Shapes in Drawings Created with the Building Plan Solution =

Article ID: 299213

Article Last Modified on 7/27/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visio 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional Edition

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This article was previously published under Q299213





SYMPTOMS
When you use the Building Plan solution to create a drawing, and you then attempt to add a label to a shape in your drawing, the label is not added to the shape.



CAUSE
This problem can occur when there are one or more parentheses in the label name. When parentheses are included in the name of a custom property, the label is not displayed in the Preview box of the Label Shapes dialog box and the label is not added to the shape.



RESOLUTION
To work around this issue, remove the parentheses from the name of the custom property for the shape that you want to add a label to. To do this, follow these steps:
 * 1) Start Microsoft Visio, and then open your drawing.
 * 2) Right-click the shape that you want to add a label to, and then click Properties.
 * 3) In the Custom Properties dialog box, click Define.
 * 4) In the Define Custom Properties dialog box, click the property from the Properties list that you want to use as a label.
 * 5) In the Label box, remove the parentheses from the label name, and then click OK.

You may want to replace the parentheses with another character, such as an underscore _, or brackets <>.
 * 1) Click OK again to close the Custom Properties dialog box.
 * 2) Select the shape that you want to add the label to.
 * 3) Do one of the following:

On the Plan menu, click Label Shapes.

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On the Tools menu, point to Macros, point to Building Plan, and then click Label Shapes.
 * 1) In the Label Shapes dialog box, click to select the Display property name in label check box (if it is not already selected).
 * 2) In the Property box, select the property that you just modified, and then click OK.

The label is now added to the shape.

Similarly, if you create a new custom property for a shape, and you want to add a label to the shape, do not include parentheses in the custom property label name.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.



MORE INFORMATION
You can use shapes in Microsoft Visio drawings to store data. In this way, shapes act much like visual database fields, storing data that you can retrieve in a report. For example, office layout shapes have custom properties in which you can store inventory number and owner.

Data is stored in shapes by typing values in the Custom Properties dialog box. You can edit, add, or delete custom properties in existing shapes, or in new shapes that you create. You can also label shapes with the name of any custom property that is defined for that particular shape.

For more information about custom properties in Microsoft Visio shapes, type custom properties in the Ask a question box or the Answer Wizard, and then press ENTER to view the topics.

Keywords: kbbug kbpending KB299213

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