Scratch Element [Visio 2003 SDK Documentation]

Article
05/01/2007

Contains a work area for entering and testing formulas that are referred to by other elements. This element is typically used to isolate repeated complex calculations.

Syntax

<Scratch
    [IX]
    [Del]>
</Scratch>

Attributes

Optional int. The zero-based index of the element within its parent element.

Del

Optional boolean. A flag indicating whether the element has been deleted locally. A value of 1 indicates that the element was deleted locally.

Element properties

Property	Value
Name	Scratch
Minimum Occurrences	0
Maximum Occurrences	Unbounded

Element information

Parent elements

Child elements

Remarks

Elements contained in the Scratch element use units in two different ways. X and Y elements use drawing units; A, B, C, and D elements don't use units. (In C programmers' jargon, X and Y elements are "typed," and elements A through D are "void.") The X and Y elements are often used for deriving x- and y-coordinates, such as PinX and PinY (the X and Y elements found in a Geom element). Elements A through D can display whatever units you specify.

An additional difference is the way these elements store point values. A point in Microsoft Office Visio is a single data package for an (x,y) coordinate. When a formula returns a point value, that value is interpreted in one of three ways, depending on the element the formula is in. Elements that relate to x-coordinates (for example, PinX, or X elements of a Geom element) extract just the x-coordinate part of a point value. Elements that relate to y-coordinates extract just the y-coordinate part of a point value.

For example, Visio extracts the formula PNT(3,4) in these three ways.

Element	If you enter	Visio treats it as	Result
X	PNT(3,4)	PNTX(PNT(3,4))	3.0000 in.
Y	PNT(3,4)	PNTY(PNT(3,4))	4.0000 in.
A-D	PNT(3,4)	PNT(3,4)	PNT(3.0000 in., 4.0000 in.)

In DatadiagramML, the IX values start at 0. However, in the Visio ShapeSheet user interface, row numbers start at 1. Therefore, row 1 in a ShapeSheet window is equivalent to IX='0' in the XML.

The Scratch element is relevant only when contained in a DocumentSheet, PageSheet, or Shape element. It is ignored when contained in a StyleSheet element.