Precedents Property [Visio 2003 SDK Documentation]

Returns an array of ShapeSheet cells upon which the formula of another cell depends.

arrayRet = object.Precedents

arrayRet   An array of the cells upon which object depends.

object    Required. An expression that returns a Cell object.

Version added

2003

Remarks

The Precedents property returns an array of the cells that cause object to recalculate its value when their formula or value changes.

Example

The following Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro shows how to use the Precedents property to display a list of cells upon which the "Scratch.X1" cell of a shape depend. The macro draws a rectangle on the active page, adds a Scratch section to the ShapeSheet of the rectangle, and then enters a formula in a cell of that section that is used to bow the sides of the rectangle inward, by changing each of the rectangles sides to an arc. Because the formula used to bow the sides of the rectangle depends on the width and height of the rectangle, the cell that contains the formula, Scratch.X1, is dependent upon the Width and Height cells of the rectangle shape, making these cells precedents.

Public Sub Precedents_Example()

    Dim acellPrecedentCells() As Visio.Cell
    Dim vsoCell As Visio.Cell
    Dim vsoShape As Visio.Shape
    Dim strBowCell As String
    Dim strBowFormula As String
    Dim intCounter As Integer
    
    'Set the value of the strBowCell string
    strBowCell = "Scratch.X1"
    
    'Set the value of the strBowFormula string
    strBowFormula = "=Min(Width, Height) / 5"
    
    'Draw a rectangle on the active page
    Set vsoShape = ActivePage.DrawRectangle(1, 5, 5, 1)
    
    'Add a scratch section and then
    vsoShape.AddSection visSectionScratch
    
    'Add a row to the scratch section
    vsoShape.AddRow visSectionScratch, visRowScratch, 0

    'Place the value of strBowFormula into Scratch.X1
    'Set the Cell object to the Scratch.X1 and set formula
    Set vsoCell = vsoShape.Cells(strBowCell)
    
    'Set up the offset for the arc
    vsoCell.Formula = strBowFormula
    
    'Bow in or curve the original rectangle's lines by changing
    'each row to an arc and entering the bow value
    For intCounter = 1 To 4
    
        vsoShape.RowType(visSectionFirstComponent, visRowVertex + intCounter) = visTagArcTo
        Set vsoCell = vsoShape.CellsSRC(visSectionFirstComponent, visRowVertex + intCounter, 2)
        vsoCell.Formula = "-" & strBowCell
        
    Next intCounter
    
    'Get the array of precedent cells
    acellPrecedentCells = vsoShape.Cells("Scratch.X1").Precedents
    
    'List the cell names and their associated formula
    For intCounter = LBound(acellPrecedentCells) To UBound(acellPrecedentCells)
        Set vsoCell = acellPrecedentCells(intCounter)
        Debug.Print vsoCell.Name & " has this formula: " & vsoCell.Formula
    Next

End Sub

Applies to | Cell object

See Also | Precedents property