Programming Excel with VBA and .NET

Draw Simple Shapes

Use the Shapes collection Add methods to draw shapes from code. Table 18-2 lists the various Add methods and describes the type of shape they create.

Table 18-2. Shapes collection Add methods

Method	Draws this type of figure	Resulting shape Type
AddCallout	Autoshape callout	msoCallout
AddConnector	Autoshape connector line	msoAutoShape
AddCurve	Bézier curve	msoFreeForm
AddDiagram	Diagram or org chart	msoDiagram
AddFormControl	Forms 1.0 control	msoFormControl
AddLabel	Text box without a border	msoTextBox
AddLine	Line	msoLine
AddOLEObject	Embedded OLE object or Forms 2.0 control (equivalent to the OLEObjects collection’s Add method)	msoEmbeddedOLEObject
AddPicture	Image from a file	msoPicture
AddPolyline	Line with multiple vertices	msoFreeForm
AddShape	Any autoshape	msoAutoShape
AddTextBox	Text box with rectangular border	msoTextBox
AddTextEffect	Embedded WordArt	msoTextEffect

Some Add methods create variations of the same type of shape, while others create seldom used or obsolete shapes. The most useful Add methods are:

    AddConnector
    AddPicture
    AddShape

The AddShape method is the most general, and you can use it to create any of the autoshapes. For example, the following code draws a rectangle on the active sheet:

Sub DrawRect( ) Dim ws As Worksheet, s As Shape Set ws = ActiveSheet ' Draw a rectangle. Set s = ws.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeRectangle, 10, 20, 100, 20) ' Color it blue s.Fill.Visible = True s.Fill.ForeColor.SchemeColor ...