The Link to Product feature allows you to link any Visio shape to an SI 2017 Product. You can then create a new Master Shape for use in Projects.You can create your own custom Visio shapes or link third-party Visio shapes to your SI 2017 Catalog, e.g. NetZoom.
Create or drag in a shape that you want to link to a Product. If you used multiple shapes to create your final shape, select them all choose to Group them:
Right-click on the grouped shape and choose Show ShapeSheet:
In the ShapeSheet change the value of "SelectMode" from 1 to 0:
Close the ShapeSheet window.
Back on the Visio page, right-click the shape and choose D-Tools->Link to Product->New:
The Add Products form will open. Select a Product and then click the [Add and Close] button:
This shape is now linked to that Product within this Project and the Product has been added to the Project Editor.
If instead you chose to link to an existing product, a form opens allowing to select a Product that is already a part of the Project:
In order to be able to re-use this shape on future Projects, you must create a new Master Shape. You can add the shape to an existing D-Tools Visio Stencil or you can create a new Stencil.
In the Visio Shapes window, select More Shapes->New Stencil (either US or Metric):
The Stencil will be created and will be open for edit. Drag your shape into the Stencil:
A new Master Shape will be created:
Rename the shape and then click the [Save] button:
In order for this Stencil to display with your SI 2017 Visio Stencils you must navigate and save to the following folder on your machine:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\D-Tools\SIX\Data\Drawings\Visio
Note: AppData is a hidden folder so you will need to change your Windows settings to show hidden files and folders.
In the D-Tools Shapes window, right-click the Stencil you want to use and select Open Stencil:
The Stencil will open in the Shapes window. Right-click on the title bar of the Stencil and select Edit Stencil:
Drag your shape into the Stencil:
Click the [Save] button. There is no need to select a path since this Stencil already exists:
It is a good idea to now Lock the Stencil so if we (D-Tools) release updated Stencils, yours won't get overwritten.
Now you can use your custom Shape(s) just as you would any stock D-Tools Shape. If you drag the Shape directly to a Visio page, the Add Product form will open and be filtered to the Product you have assigned the shape, acting as a one-to-one relationship vs. a one-to-many. However, you can select any Product from your SI 2017 Catalog simply by clicking the [Reset] button in the Filter and Query section of the ribbon: