VBA: need to sort shapes - vba

Question

Recently, in an interview I encountered a question in VBA. The question is:
Write a program to sort the shapes in a worksheet, like for example : I have various shapes like circle, triangle, rectangle, pentagon... This needs to be sorted and placed one below the other.
I tried with Shapes object and msoshapeRectangle method. But it didnt work.
Could you please tell me is this possible to be done?
Thanks

Answer 1

It was an interesting challenge, so I did it. Might as well post the result (commented for clarity):
Sub tgr()
'There are 184 total AutoShapeTypes
'See here for full list
'https://msdn.microsoft.com/VBA/Office-Shared-VBA/articles/msoautoshapetype-enumeration-office
Dim aShapeTypes(1 To 184) As String
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim Shp As Shape
Dim i As Long, j As Long
Dim vShpName As Variant
Dim dLeftAlign As Double
Dim dTopAlign As Double
Dim dVerticalInterval As Double
Dim dHorizontalInterval As Double
Dim dPadding As Double
Set ws = ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet
'Sort order will be by the AutoShapeType numerical ID
'Using this, shapes will be sorted in this order (incomplete list for brevity):
' Rectangle, Parallelogram, Trapezoid, Diamond, Rounded rectangle, Octagon, Isosceles triangle, Right triangle, Oval, Hexagon
'Note that you can use a Select Case to order shapes to a more customized list
'I use this method to put the -2 (indicates a combination of the other states) at the bottom of the sort order
For Each Shp In ws.Shapes
Select Case Shp.AutoShapeType
Case -2: aShapeTypes(UBound(aShapeTypes)) = aShapeTypes(UBound(aShapeTypes)) & "||" & Shp.Name
Case Else: aShapeTypes(Shp.AutoShapeType) = aShapeTypes(Shp.AutoShapeType) & "||" & Shp.Name
End Select
Next Shp
'Now that all shapes have been collected and put into their sort order, perform the actual sort operation
'Adjust the alignment and vertical veriables as desired
'The Padding variable is so that the shapes don't start at the very edge of the sheet (can bet set to 0 if that's fine)
'I have it currently set to sort the shapes vertically, but they can be sorted horizontally by uncommenting those lines and commenting out the vertical sort lines
dPadding = 10
dLeftAlign = 5
dTopAlign = 5
dVerticalInterval = 40
dHorizontalInterval = 40
j = 0
For i = LBound(aShapeTypes) To UBound(aShapeTypes)
If Len(aShapeTypes(i)) > 0 Then
For Each vShpName In Split(Mid(aShapeTypes(i), 3), "||")
With ws.Shapes(vShpName)
'Vertical Sort
.Left = dLeftAlign
.Top = j * dVerticalInterval + dPadding
'Horizont Sort
'.Top = dTopAlign
'.Left = j * dHorizontalInterval + dPadding
End With
j = j + 1
Next vShpName
End If
Next i
End Sub