dynamic connectors in Visio .vdx files

Question

Hello,

currently I try to understand vdx files, because in future I want to generate my own. I now have problems with dynamic connectors. When defining them like follows:

<Shape ID="46" Type="Shape" Master="10">
<Geom IX="0">
<MoveTo IX='1'></MoveTo><LineTo IX='23'></LineTo></Geom>
</Shape>
....
<Connect FromSheet="45" FromCell="BeginX" FromPart="9" ToSheet="1" ToCell="PinX" ToPart="3" /> 
<Connect FromSheet="45" FromCell="EndX" FromPart="12" ToSheet="23" ToCell="PinX" ToPart="3" /> 

they are not displayed. After moving a node, the connectors are displayed. What am I missing?

When taking the minimal settings from a Visio generated vdx file, there are lots of coordinates, which I want to avoid:

<Shape ID="47" Type="Shape" Master="10">
<XForm>
  <PinX F="Inh">1.669258233656828</PinX> 
  <PinY F="Inh">7.519214852067909</PinY> 
  </XForm>
<XForm1D>
  <BeginX F="_WALKGLUE(BegTrigger,EndTrigger,WalkPreference)">1.737275462308963</BeginX> 
  <BeginY F="_WALKGLUE(BegTrigger,EndTrigger,WalkPreference)">7.671541057367827</BeginY> 
  <EndX F="_WALKGLUE(EndTrigger,BegTrigger,WalkPreference)">1.601241005004693</EndX> 
  <EndY F="_WALKGLUE(EndTrigger,BegTrigger,WalkPreference)">7.366888646767992</EndY> 
</XForm1D>
<Geom IX="0">
<LineTo IX="2"><X>-0.1664424255025283</X><Y>-0.3046524105998358</Y></LineTo>
</Geom>
</Shape>

What is the best and easiest way to work with dynamic connectors in vdx files?

Thanks,
/mspoerr

Answer 1

According to Connect documentation:

In untrusted XML files, when Visio opens the file, it uses the Connect elements to set glue formulas for shapes, similar to the GlueTo method in Automation. However, geometry will not be updated, so connectors may need to be manually rerouted.