Select Updated Masters

A new shape is created each time you drag and drop a new symbol from an external stencil (for example, ‘Sample_Fitting_Symbols.vss’) into the drawing. In addition it creates a new master on the Document stencil (Document Stencil ). After dropping the symbol the direct link between the Shape and its original master located on the external stencil is broken. However, each master has a BaseID and a UniqueID.

Document Stencil

The following example will explain the difference between a BaseID and a UniqueID:

A BaseID is assigned to a master when it is created. The valve has been dropped on to the page from the ‘Sample_Valve_Symbols’ stencil. As a result of this operation the new master will be created in the Document Stencil. Both masters (on the document and Sample_Valve_Symbols stencils) will have the same BaseID and UniqueID. If one of the masters is changed the UniqueID will also change but the BaseID will remain the same. for further information refer to the Microsoft Visio documentation.

If modifying masters items on external stencils and applying changes to shapes, which were created by dropping these masters, those masters need to be selected. To do that click the Select master shapes to use for update button in Update Diagrams Options Form. The following dialog will be shown.

Select Masters to Update

The dialog above contains three windows: Stencils, Masters and Masters to update. These windows will be empty at start up. Click the Add Stencil button to add a stencil that contains modified masters. These added stencils will be shown in the Stencils window. In the Masters window the masters that belong to a selected stencil are displayed. Only the masters in the Masters to update window will be used during the update operations. To add masters to the Master to update window, use drag and drop or the right-click context menu. If the Add all check box is checked all masters from all stencils will be added. To remove masters from the Master to update window select right-click on a master or use the Delete key on the keyboard.

Deleting Masters to update

The number of selected masters will be visible in brackets in the Update Diagrams Option dialog as shown below.

Number of selected masters