How to: Programmatically copy and paste shapes in a Visio document

Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac

You can programmatically copy shapes on one page of a document and paste them into a new page in the same document. You can choose to paste them into the default location (the center of the active window) or into the same coordinate locations as they had on the original page.

Copy and paste shapes

For details about the object model, see the VBA reference documentation for the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Shape.DrawRectangle, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Shape.DrawOval, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Shape.Copy, and Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Shape.Paste methods and the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNormal flag.

To copy shapes to the center of another page

• The following example demonstrates how to copy the shapes from the first page and paste them into the center of the second page.

  this.Application.Documents.Add("");
  Visio.Page copyPage;
  Visio.Page pastePage;
  Visio.Shape rectangle = null;
  Visio.Shape oval = null;
  
  Visio.Pages visioPages = this.Application.ActiveDocument.Pages;
  
  visioPages.Add();
  
  try
  {
      copyPage = visioPages[1];
      rectangle = copyPage.DrawRectangle(1.1, 2.2, 4.5, 6.7);
      oval = copyPage.DrawOval(1, 8.75, 3.5, 6.25);
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {
      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
  }
  
  try
  {
      pastePage = visioPages[2];
      rectangle.Copy(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNormal);
      pastePage.Paste(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNormal);
      oval.Copy(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNormal);
      pastePage.Paste(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNormal);
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {
      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
  }
  

  Me.Application.Documents.Add("")
  Dim copyPage As Visio.Page
  Dim pastePage As Visio.Page
  Dim rectangle As Visio.Shape = Nothing
  Dim oval As Visio.Shape = Nothing
  
  Dim visioPages As Visio.Pages = Me.Application.ActiveDocument.Pages
  
  visioPages.Add()
  
  Try
      copyPage = visioPages(1)
      rectangle = copyPage.DrawRectangle(1.1, 2.2, 4.5, 6.7)
      oval = copyPage.DrawOval(1, 8.75, 3.5, 6.25)
  Catch ex As Exception
      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
  End Try
  
  Try
      pastePage = visioPages(2)
      rectangle.Copy(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNormal)
      pastePage.Paste(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNormal)
      oval.Copy(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNormal)
      pastePage.Paste(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNormal)
  Catch ex As Exception
      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
  End Try
  

Copy and paste shapes with the same positions

For details about the object model, see the VBA reference documentation for the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Shape.DrawRectangle, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Shape.DrawOval, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Shape.Copy, and Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.Shape.Paste methods and the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNoTranslate flag.

If you need to control the format of the pasted information and (optionally) establish a link to a source file (for example, a Microsoft Office Word document), use the PasteSpecial method.

To copy shapes and shape locations to another page

• The following example demonstrates how to copy the shapes from the first page and paste them into the second page with their original coordinate locations.

  this.Application.Documents.Add("");
  Visio.Page copyPage;
  Visio.Page pastePage;
  Visio.Shape rectangle = null;
  Visio.Shape oval = null;
  
  Visio.Pages visioPages = this.Application.ActiveDocument.Pages;
  
  visioPages.Add();
  
  try
  {
      copyPage = visioPages[1];
      rectangle = copyPage.DrawRectangle(1.1, 2.2, 4.5, 6.7);
      oval = copyPage.DrawOval(1, 8.75, 3.5, 6.25);
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {
      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
  }
  
  try
  {
      pastePage = visioPages[2];
      rectangle.Copy(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNoTranslate);
      pastePage.Paste(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNoTranslate);
      oval.Copy(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNoTranslate);
      pastePage.Paste(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNoTranslate);
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {
      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
  }
  

  Me.Application.Documents.Add("")
  Dim copyPage As Visio.Page
  Dim pastePage As Visio.Page
  Dim rectangle As Visio.Shape = Nothing
  Dim oval As Visio.Shape = Nothing
  
  Dim visioPages As Visio.Pages = Me.Application.ActiveDocument.Pages
  
  visioPages.Add()
  
  Try
      copyPage = visioPages(1)
      rectangle = copyPage.DrawRectangle(1.1, 2.2, 4.5, 6.7)
      oval = copyPage.DrawOval(1, 8.75, 3.5, 6.25)
  Catch ex As Exception
      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
  End Try
  
  Try
      pastePage = visioPages(2)
      rectangle.Copy(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNoTranslate)
      pastePage.Paste(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNoTranslate)
      oval.Copy(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNoTranslate)
      pastePage.Paste(Visio.VisCutCopyPasteCodes.visCopyPasteNoTranslate)
  Catch ex As Exception
      System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
  End Try
  

See also

• Visio solutions
• Visio object model overview
• Work with Visio shapes
• How to: Programmatically add shapes to a Visio document