Hide drawing dimensions which are orphaned

By Xiaodong Liang

For some reasons such as the corresponding components are removed/suppressed, the dimensions which ever attach to the components will be orphaned and can be removed.

Recently, I got a question that the user wants to hide the orphaned dimension. Once the components are available again, he wants to display the dimension again.

DrawingDimension.Attached indicates whether this dimension is attached to anything. But there is no property to control the visibility of the dimension. You can only remove it completely by DrawingDimension.Delete

After some investigations,  a workaround came to my brain. We could move the orphaned dimension to a layer which is switched off. And set its layer back to a normal dimension layer if the user wants to reset.

The following is some code snippet of iLogic.

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hideUnAttachedDim:

 doc = ThisDoc.Document
 
 ''assume a layer named "Dimension (ISO)" exists. 
 '  If no, you could use other existing layers.
Dim oHideLayer
oHideLayer = doc.StylesManager.Layers.
        Item("Dimension (ISO)").Copy("dummy")

'iterate each dimension  
Dim oEachDim As DrawingDimension
For Each oEachDim In doc.ActiveSheet.DrawingDimensions
  'if it is orphaned  
   If Not oEachDim.Attached Then
    ' set the layer to the dummy layer 
      oEachDim.Layer = oHideLayer
   End If
Next

'hide this layer 
oHideLayer.Visible = False

doc.Update
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resetDim:

 doc = ThisDoc.Document 
 
'Set the dimensions whose layer Is 
'"dummy" To "Dimension (ISO)"
Dim oEachDim As DrawingDimension
For Each oEachDim In doc.ActiveSheet.DrawingDimensions
   If oEachDim.Layer.Name = "dummy" Then
      oEachDim.Layer = doc.StylesManager.Layers.
                    Item(""Dimension (ISO)")
   End If
Next


doc.Update

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