Programmatically add shapes to a Visio document

You can add shapes to a Microsoft Office Visio document by retrieving the masters from a stencil and dropping the shapes on the active page.

For more information, see the VBA reference documentation for the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Documents.Add method, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Application.ActivePage property, and Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Page.Drop method.

Add shapes to a Visio Document

To add shapes to a Visio document

• With a document active, retrieve the masters from the Documents.Masters collection and drop the shapes on the active document. You can retrieve a master by using the index or master name.

  The following code example creates a blank Visio document, and then opens it with the Basic Shapes stencil docked. The code then retrieves several shapes and drops them on the active page.

  C#

  this.Application.Documents.Add("");
  
  Visio.Documents visioDocs = this.Application.Documents;
  Visio.Document visioStencil = visioDocs.OpenEx("Basic Shapes.vss",
      (short)Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.VisOpenSaveArgs.visOpenDocked);
  
  Visio.Page visioPage = this.Application.ActivePage;
  
  Visio.Master visioRectMaster = visioStencil.Masters.get_ItemU(@"Rectangle");
  Visio.Shape visioRectShape = visioPage.Drop(visioRectMaster, 4.25, 5.5);
  visioRectShape.Text = @"Rectangle text.";
  
  Visio.Master visioStarMaster = visioStencil.Masters.get_ItemU(@"5-Point Star 7");
  Visio.Shape visioStarShape = visioPage.Drop(visioStarMaster, 2.0, 5.5);
  visioStarShape.Text = @"Star text.";
  
  Visio.Master visioHexagonMaster = visioStencil.Masters.get_ItemU(@"Hexagon");
  Visio.Shape visioHexagonShape = visioPage.Drop(visioHexagonMaster, 7.0, 5.5);
  visioHexagonShape.Text = @"Hexagon text.";
  

  VB

  Me.Application.Documents.Add("")
  
  Dim visioDocs As Visio.Documents = Me.Application.Documents
  Dim visioStencil As Visio.Document = visioDocs.OpenEx("Basic Shapes.vss", CShort(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.VisOpenSaveArgs.visOpenDocked))
  
  Dim visioPage As Visio.Page = Me.Application.ActivePage
  
  Dim visioRectMaster As Visio.Master = visioStencil.Masters("Rectangle")
  Dim visioRectShape As Visio.Shape = visioPage.Drop(visioRectMaster, 4.25, 5.5)
  visioRectShape.Text = "Rectangle text."
  
  Dim visioStarMaster As Visio.Master = visioStencil.Masters("5-Point Star 7")
  Dim visioStarShape As Visio.Shape = visioPage.Drop(visioStarMaster, 2.0, 5.5)
  visioStarShape.Text = "Star text."
  
  Dim visioHexagonMaster As Visio.Master = visioStencil.Masters("Hexagon")
  Dim visioHexagonShape As Visio.Shape = visioPage.Drop(visioHexagonMaster, 7.0, 5.5)
  visioHexagonShape.Text = "Hexagon text."
  

Related content

• Visio solutions
• Visio object model overview
• Work with Visio shapes
• How to: Programmatically copy and paste shapes in a Visio document