Color Shapes

Location on ribbon: Tab DVD Addin → Group Graphics

Command ID: btnColorShapes

License required

This command needs an active DVDAddin account (Standard or PRO). It is fully available during the trial period.

What it does

This command recolours many shapes on the active sheet at once from a two-column mapping table: shape names on the left, numeric RGB codes on the right. Every shape whose name matches gets the corresponding fill at 50% transparency.

It turns a plain drawing into a live status diagram without clicking each object: a site layout drawn from shapes named after grid bays, a small Excel table beside it computing a colour from progress (green = concreted, yellow = in progress, grey = not started), and one click repaints the whole layout.

How to use

1. Open the sheet holding the shapes (the command works on the active sheet only).
2. Prepare a two-column table: left = shape name, right = RGB colour code (a numeric value).
3. Go to tab DVD Addin → group Graphics → click Color Shapes.
4. Excel's range picker appears with the prompt "Select range: shape names left, RGB codes right". Drag over the mapping table and click OK.
5. The add-in walks each row, finds the shape by name and applies the fill. When it finishes, a toast reports "Coloured N shapes (errors X)".

Example

A level 3 layout drawn from shapes named BAY_A1, BAY_A2, BAY_B1… with a tracking table beside it:

G (Shape name)	H (RGB code)
BAY_A1	5296274
BAY_A2	65535
BAY_B1	12632256

Column H is computed from the status column, e.g. =IF(F5="Poured",5296274,IF(F5="In progress",65535,12632256)). Select G5:H40 when the picker asks and click OK — the entire layout repaints to that week's progress.

Notes

• The colour column must hold numbers (Excel RGB longs: Red + Green×256 + Blue×65536). Text, #RRGGBB hex strings and empty cells are counted as errors and skipped.
• Shape names must match exactly on the active sheet; one wrong character silently skips that row.
• Every recoloured shape gets 50% transparency — a fixed behaviour of this command, with no option to change it.
• Hold ESC to stop midway; shapes already recoloured keep their new fill.
• The command edits shape properties directly and cannot be undone with Ctrl + Z.

Related

• List Shapes — dump shape names onto the sheet to build the left column of the mapping table.
• Get Color Code — read an existing cell fill colour to obtain the RGB value for the right column.
• Rename Shapes — normalise shape names before mapping colours to them.
• Color Rects — create new coloured rectangles instead of recolouring existing shapes.