Fill Area Between Lines

[Zone]

In C++, you can draw a rectangle, then draw a bigger one around it,
then fill only the area between the two, leaving the inner rectangle
with no fill. This leaves the inner rectangle free to display
whatever's behind it. I cannot figure out a way to do this in VBA.
Whereas C++ has a fill function that will fill until it encounters a
different color border, I just don't see how to do this in VBA. Any
suggestions? TIA, James

 

[Jim Cone]

Will you settle for two circles/ovals?
Insert a doughnut autoshape and adjust the color and size...

Sub MakeDoWithCircles()
With ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeDonut, 93, 103.5, 132, 129)
.Adjustments.Item(1) = 0.15 'adust inner circle.
.Fill.ForeColor.SchemeColor = 47 ' -7 = ColorIndex
End With
End Sub
--
Jim Cone
San Francisco, USA
http://www.realezsites.com/bus/primitivesoftware


"Zone"
<[email protected]>
wrote in message
In C++, you can draw a rectangle, then draw a bigger one around it,
then fill only the area between the two, leaving the inner rectangle
with no fill. This leaves the inner rectangle free to display
whatever's behind it. I cannot figure out a way to do this in VBA.
Whereas C++ has a fill function that will fill until it encounters a
different color border, I just don't see how to do this in VBA. Any
suggestions? TIA, James

 

[Zone]

Jim,
Your doughnut shape is a new on me. Thanks for introducing me to
it. It's exactly the kind of effect I'm looking for. Unfortunately, I
do not see a way to control the angularity of the doughnut. Golly, if
I could use thing thing to fill the area between a larger and smaller
rectangle, it would be ideal. I don't see how I can get an angular
doughnut effect out it. I am working on a visual window (not a
Microsoft one), where the window panes are transparent to allow view of
the object beyond the panes, yet the area between the outer and inner
area of the window frame is filled in white. In C++, this is a simple
matter of creating two rectangles, one inside the other, and filling
the area in-between the borders of the two. Unfortunately, as I'm sure
you know, Excel requires that a 2-dimensional object be created (even
if it's created using a freeform) before it can fill the thing, and
then it fills the entire area of the thing. For my window, I'm having
to start with the window frame and then work outward, creating a left,
right, top and bottom window frame portion and a left, right, top and
bottom wall portion to keep from filling in the darn window panes. I
expect that this is the way I'm going to have to do it in Excel to
achieve an angular object inside of another angular object, with the
center left unfilled. Quite a 'pane' ! Anyway, thanks for the
doughnut. Any more ideas? James

 

[Peter T]

Simply apply a border as thick as you want to a rectangle (or any other
autoshape). Borders support 2 colour patterns and a variety of line styles,
colour(s) can be any rgb not confined to the palette.

If you want to see whatever is behind the rectangle apply interior no-fill.

Regards,
Peter T

 

[Zone]

Peter, Apparently I am not getting what you're saying. I want to
create an inner rectangle and an outer one and fill the area in-between
them without filling the smaller rectangle's interior. If I am missing
something, please expand on what you're saying. Regards, James

 

[Jim Cone]

James,
Re: "Any more ideas?"

I like Peter T's suggestion of adjusting the border width...

Sub JustOneWillDoIt()
With ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeRectangle, 99, 132, 99, 99)
.Line.Weight = 40
.Fill.Visible = msoFalse
End With
End Sub
'-----------

However if the size of the filled portions are not a constant then perhaps
instead of inserting one rectangle, insert 4 rectangles to make up
the fill area. The rectangle's borders do not have to show, so the 4 graphics
could even overlap. Something like this? ...
'-------------------
Sub UseMultipleRetangles()
Dim shpOne As Excel.Shape
Dim shpTwo As Excel.Shape

' vertical left ' left, top, width, height
With ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeRectangle, 69.75, 132, 50.25, 258)
'vertical right
Set shpOne = .Duplicate
shpOne.Left = .Left + .Width + 279
shpOne.Top = .Top
End With
' horizontal top
With ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeRectangle, 120, shpOne.Top, 279, 45)
'horizontal bottom
Set shpTwo = .Duplicate
shpTwo.Left = .Left
shpTwo.Top = shpOne.Top + shpOne.Height - .Height
' .Line.Visible = msoFalse
End With
End Sub

 

[Peter T]

I had something like this in mind -

Sub test()
Dim shp As Shape
Set shp = ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(1&, 60#, 60#, 210#, 90#)
With shp.Line
.Weight = 36
'.Style = msoLineThickThin
.ForeColor.RGB = RGB(33, 145, 255) ' or use a schemecolor
.Visible = True
End With
shp.Fill.Visible = msoFalse
shp.Visible = msoTrue
shp.Select
End Sub

Regards,
Peter T

 

[Zone]

Thanks, Jim and Peter. Your ideas look promising. I especially like
Peter's rectangle with the fat borders. I didn't know the border could
be so thick. Jim, your 4-rectangle solution is pretty much what I'm
doing. It's workable, but ends up with 8 rectangles by the time I
create the wall around it. Anyway, I'll study these ideas and see if I
can adapt one or more of them. Again, many thanks! James