Talking to Powerpoint 2007 with Com/Activex

[esender]

I am looking for help with PowerPoint 2007 and using activex to help me create a PowerPoint that uses a special *.POT theme file as its base.


More specifically, I am calling the COM object from Matlab. Here is the code outline:

h = actxserver('PowerPoint.Application')
h.Visible = 1;
Presentation = h.Presentation.Add
blankSlide = Presentation.SlideMaster.CustomLayouts.Item(7)
Slide1 = Presentation.Slides.AddSlide(1,blankSlide)
Slide2 = Presentation.Slides.AddSlide(1,blankSlide);

figure;
plot(1:10)
print('-dpng','-r150','c:\temp\test1.png')
figure;
image(ceil(64*rand(20,20)))
print('-dpng','-r150','c:\temp\test2.png')

Image1 = Slide1.Shapes.AddPicture('c:\temp\test1.png','msoFalse','msoTrue',100,20,500,500)
Image2 = Slide2.Shapes.AddPicture('c:\temp\test2.png','msoFalse','msoTrue',100,20,500,500)

Title1 = Slide1.Shapes.AddTextbox('msoTextOrientationHorizontal',200,10,400,70)
Title1.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = 'plot(1:10)'

Title2 = Slide2.Shapes.AddTextbox('msoTextOrientationHorizontal',200,10,400,70)
Title2.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = 'image(ceil(64*rand(20,20)))'

As you can see, the code is straight forward and it shouldn't matter if I am doing it in Matlab or any other program.

Instead of making blank slides, I was hoping I could use a specific .POT file as the base of the slides and go from there.

I would eventually need to place text and images at very precise locations---so hopefully this can even be done with PowerPoint activex.

I already have a VBA Macro that does a lot of what I need, but it bases all its work on a premade *.PPTM file. So with activex, I am hoping it will do everything my Macro does, along with create the PowerPoint based on a theme/.POT file, and replace certain text within the template.



Below is the Marco code--- it will be my general guideline for writing the activex. What this code doesn't include is replacing placeholder texts (I currently do that manually).

Sub GetImagesFromDir()


Dim fd As FileDialog
Set fd = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)

Dim imageDir As Variant
Dim tempFileName As String
Dim tempFileNum As String
Dim tempStr As String
Dim varFiles() As Variant
Dim lngFileCount As Long
Dim newSlide As Long

Dim newImage As Shape
Dim newTextBox As Shape

With fd
    If .Show = -1 Then
    For Each SelectedItems In .SelectedItems
        newSlide = -1
        imageDir = SelectedItems
      
        tempFileName = Dir(imageDir & "\*.*", vbNormal)

        Do Until Len(tempFileName) = 0
            If (tempFileName <> ".") And (tempFileName <> "..") Then
                tempFileNum = Left(tempFileName, 15)
                tempFileNum = Right(tempFileNum, 5)
                For i = 1 To ActivePresentation.Slides.Count
                    For j = 1 To ActivePresentation.Slides(i).Shapes.Count
                        If (ActivePresentation.Slides(i).Shapes(j).HasTextFrame) Then
                            If (ActivePresentation.Slides(i).Shapes(j).TextFrame.HasText) Then
                                tempStr = ActivePresentation.Slides(i).Shapes(j).TextFrame.TextRange
                                tempStr = Right(tempStr, 5)
                                If (StrComp(tempStr, tempFileNum, vbTextCompare) = 0) Then
                                    'With ActivePresentation.Slides(i).Shapes.AddShape(Type:=msoShapeRectangle, Left:=0, Top:=0, Width:=100, Height:=100)
                                    With ActivePresentation.Slides(i)
                                        .Select
                                        'Set newTextBox = .Shapes().AddTextbox(msoTextOrientationHorizontal, Left:=0, Top:=0, Width:=100, Height:=100)
                                        'newTextBox.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "Hello"
                                        Set newImage = .Shapes().AddPicture(tempFileName, msoFalse, msoTrue, 0, 0)
                                            newImage.LockAspectRatio = msoTrue
                                            newImage.Height = 440
                                            newImage.Left = (ActivePresentation.PageSetup.SlideWidth - newImage.Width) / 2 + 5
                                            newImage.Top = (ActivePresentation.PageSetup.SlideHeight - newImage.Height) / 2 + 38
                                            newSlide = 1
                                    End With
                                End If
                            End If
                        End If
                    Next j
                Next i
                If (newSlide = -1) Then
                    ActivePresentation.Slides.Add Index:=ActivePresentation.Slides.Count + 1, Layout:=ppLayoutTitleOnly
                    With ActivePresentation.Slides(ActivePresentation.Slides.Count).Shapes.AddTextbox(msoTextOrientationHorizontal, 712, 60, 200, 50)
                        .TextFrame.TextRange.Text = tempFileNum
                        With .TextFrame.TextRange.Font
                            .Size = 8
                            .Name = "Arial"
                        End With
                    End With
                    With ActivePresentation.Slides(ActivePresentation.Slides.Count)
                        Set newImage = .Shapes().AddPicture(tempFileName, msoFalse, msoTrue, 0, 0)
                            newImage.LockAspectRatio = msoTrue
                            newImage.Height = 440
                            newImage.Left = (ActivePresentation.PageSetup.SlideWidth - newImage.Width) / 2 + 15
                            newImage.Top = (ActivePresentation.PageSetup.SlideHeight - newImage.Height) / 2 + 30
                            newSlide = -1
                    End With
                    newSlide = -1
                End If
            End If
            tempFileName = Dir
        Loop
        Next SelectedItems
    End If
    End With
End Sub

[esender]

I was able to find out how to edit the title text:

>> Slide.s2.Shapes.get
     Application: [1x1 Interface.Microsoft_PowerPoint_12.0_Object_Library._Application]
         Creator: 1.3479e+009
          Parent: [1x1 Interface.Microsoft_PowerPoint_12.0_Object_Library._Slide]
           Count: 4
        HasTitle: 'msoTrue'
           Title: [1x1 Interface.Microsoft_PowerPoint_12.0_Object_Library.Shape]
    Placeholders: [1x1 Interface.Microsoft_PowerPoint_12.0_Object_Library.Placeholders]

There are 4 shapes in this slide, but I can only seem to edit the Title shape. None of the other 3 shapes (all text boxes) can be found through the activex/com!

How do I access them?