Wire shapes are intended for use on the Plan, Schematic, and Line pages in Visio and are located in the Wire Shapes stencil.

Signal Flow

Wire shapes are designed to show signal flow, and most have arrows on them to indicate this.

There is a "Start Terminal" or "From" end of the Wire shape and an "End Terminal" or "To" end. The "From" end of the wire is considered the headend of the wire.

Bulk Wire Shapes

There are three Bulk Wire shapes. Bulk wire shapes are intended for use on the Plan pages in Visio. These shapes are intended for use with bulk wires, i.e., wires that come on a spool.

Bulk Wire

This shape looks like this when dropped on a Visio page.

There is text displayed at each end of the wire.

On the "End Terminal" end of the wire, the Wire Component ID, Model Number, and Type are displayed.
At the "Start Terminal" end of the wire, the text "HE:" is displayed, followed by whatever headend you have assigned to the wire.

The default setting is to have these fields be separate, but they can be combined by using the Merge Text block functionality in the Shape Data or right-click options. These text fields can be moved anywhere around the main wire shape by using the yellow control handle.

Bulk Wire 2

This Shape looks like this when dropped on a Visio page.

There is text displayed at each end of the wire.

On the "End Terminal" end of the wire, the Wire Component ID and Model Number are displayed.
On the "Start Terminal" end of the wire, the text "HE:" is displayed, followed by whatever headend you have assigned to the wire.

Bulk Wire 3

This shape looks like this when dropped on a Visio page.

There is text displayed at the "Start Terminal" end of the wire where the Wire Component ID, Model Number, and Head End display. This Bulk Wire shape is slightly different from the other two in that the "plain" end of the wire is the "End Terminal" end vs. the arrow on the other Bulk Wire shapes.

Finish Wire

There is one Finish Wire shape, and it is intended to be used on Schematic and Line pages in Visio. This shape looks like this when dropped on a Visio page, depending on your settings.

By default, the Wire Component ID is displayed on the ends of the shape. This can easily be changed in the Show Text setting of the Shape Data window or right-click menu options to show the Component ID, Model, or Terminal information.

The Wire shape may look different than the image above if you have set the Start Terminal and End Terminal field for the wire on the Specifications tab and have the "Display line end images in Visio for start terminal and end terminal on wire shapes" Project Setting set to "True."

In this case, the Finish Wire shape will look similar to this.

File:SIX_Guide/007_Projects/003_Visio_Interface/Visio_Shapes_for_SIX/Wire_Shapes/finish_wire_shape_with_end_images.jpg

Below is an image showing all of the available line-end images:

If you want to create your own line-end images, check out this article.

The other Project Setting shown above, "Store wire terminals on connection", when set to "True", will automatically fill in the Start Terminal and End Terminal fields when the wire is connected to Schematic shapes.

Bundled Cable

The wires within a bundled cable will display a callout with the Component ID of the bundled cable.

You can select the wire and use the yellow handle to drag this callout wherever you want to place it. The leader line will connect to other parts of the Wire shape automatically as you move the handle.

Pinout Details

If you would like to create or add a Pinout shape for reference, you can do this via a right-click on the Finish Wire shape.

Check out this article for more details.

Line Connector

The Line Connector shape is not linked to any products by default in SI. This shape is intended to be used on Line pages in Visio where you just want to show what connects to what, without actually dropping specific wires on the page. This shape looks like this when dropped on a Visio page.

Unlike the other Wire shapes, when the Line connector is dragged from the stencil to a Visio page, you will not be prompted to select a wire from your catalog to add to the project. Instead, you will be prompted to select from your list of subcategories associated with your wire and cable category. Whatever you choose will be displayed on the shape.

Off-page Reference

Check out this article for more details.

Wire Run

The Wire Run shape allows you to measure the distance of a "wire run" (in 2D) on a scaled floor plan.

Check out this article for more details.

Shape Data Window

All user adjustments are accessed through the Shape Data window.

To display the Shape Data window, click the View tab, then select Shape Data from the Task Panes dropdown.

The most commonly used settings can also be accessed by right-clicking the shape.

File:SIX_Guide/007_Projects/003_Visio_Interface/Visio_Shapes_for_SIX/Wire_Shapes/right-click_shape_data.jpg

Bulk Wire Shape Data

The following image displays the shape data for the Bulk Wire and Bulk Wire 2 shapes. The shape data for Bulk Wire 3 is slightly different, but all of the settings are described below.

The following are the settings.

Setting	Description
Arcs	This will vary the shape of the wire. The options are 1 Arc, 2 Arcs, 3 Arcs, or Straight. The default is 1 Arc for the Bulk Wire shape and Straight for the Bulk Wire 2 shape. The 2 Arc and 3 Arc options are shown below.
Show Text	This will show or hide the text blocks for the shape. The default is set to True.
Merge Text Blocks	You can combine the Wire Component ID, Model Number, and Head End into one text block. This often won't make sense as you will generally want the headend to be displayed at the proper end of the wire. The default is set to False.
Text Angle	This allows you to align your text with the following options: In-line or Level. In-line keeps the text aligned with the curve of the wire shape Level displays the text horizontally. The default is set to In-line.
Show Component ID	This will allow you to show or hide the component ID on the shape. The default is set to True.
Show Model	This will allow you to show or hide the model information on the shape. The default is set to True.
Show Subcategory	This will allow you to show or hide the subcategory of the product on the shape. The default is set to False.
Show Headend	This will allow you to show or hide the headend information on the shape. The default is set to True.
Line Color	You can change the line color. The default is set to Black.
Line Pattern	You can change the line pattern. The default is set to Solid.
Line Weight	You can change the line weight. The default is set to 3/4 pt.
Arrow Style	You can change the arrow style on the wire. Default varies between the Bulk Wire Shapes.
Text Size Factor Head End	Allows you to change the text size on the Headend Text section independent of the main text section when Merge Text is set to False.
Text Size Factor Main	Allows you to change the text size of the main text independent of the Headend Text section when Merge Text is set to False.

Finish Wire Shape Data

The following image displays the shape data for the Finish Wire Shape.

The following are the settings.

Setting	Description
Line Color	You can change the line color. The default is set to Black.
Line Weight	You can change the line weight. The default is set to 3/4 pt.
Line Pattern	You can change the line pattern. The default is set to Solid.
Line Curve	You can change the line curve of the wire from a right angle to a smooth curve. The default is set to 0 inches.
Show Text	There are multiple options for how and where the wire component ID displays on the Finish Wire shape. The default is Show Start and End Text.
Text Size Factor (Middle	This allows you to change the text size of the Middle Text section independently of the start and end text.
Text Size Factor (Start/End)	This allows you to change the text size of the Start Text and End Text sections independently of the middle text.
Show Text-positioning handles	This will display yellow handles on the text fields and allow you to move the text wherever you wish on the shape. This can be used to override the Start Text Offset and End Text Offset settings.
Start Text Display	You can choose which text you want to display in the start area of the shape. Choices are Component ID, Custom, Mfg-Mod, Model, Subcategory, Terminal.
Start Text Custom	If you choose Custom from the Start Text Display option, you can add custom text here.
Start Text Offset	This allows you to choose how near or far the Start text will display relative to the end of the shape. Choices are Near, Medium, or Far. This can be overridden with the Show Text-positioning handles setting.
Middle Text Display	Same as Start Text Display, but for the middle of the wire shape. The only difference here is that if you choose Terminal, both the Start and End Terminal information will be displayed.
Middle Text Custom	Same as Start Text Display, but for the middle of the wire shape.
End Text Display	Same as Start Text Display, but on the other end of the wire shape.
End Text Custom	Same as Start Text Custom, but on the other end of the wire shape.
End Text Offset	Same as Start Text Display, but on the other end of the wire shape.

Line Connector Shape Data

The following image displays the shape data for the Line Connector Shape.

File:SIX_Guide/007_Projects/003_Visio_Interface/Visio_Shapes_for_SIX/Wire_Shapes/shape_data_line_connector.jpg

The following are the settings.

Setting	Description
Type	Here you can change the text that is displayed on the Line Connector shape. This is a list of the subcategories associated with your wire and cable category.
Line Color	You can change the line color. The default is set to Black.
Line Weight	You can change the line weight. The default is set to 3/4 pt.
Line Pattern	You can change the line pattern. The default is set to Solid.
Arrow Style	You can change the arrow style on the wire. Default varies between the Bulk Wire shapes.
Line Curve	You can change the line curve of the wire. Default varies between the Bulk Wire shapes.