Thread Subject:

Matlab ActiveX command for PowerPoint Multiline Title

Does anyone know how to use activeX in Maltab so that you can write a multiline title text?

Here's an excerpt of the code I'm using.

   titletext=sprintf('LINE1\nline2');

   writepath=pwd;
   clearppt='MC_default.ppt'
   outfileppt='TitleTest.ppt'
    
   clearppt = [writepath '\' clearppt];
   outfileppt = [writepath '\' outfileppt];

   % Start an ActiveX session with PowerPoint:
   ppt = actxserver('PowerPoint.Application');
   ppt.Visible = 1; % Keep Application Visible
   ppt.WindowState = 2; % Minimize PowerPoint window to taskbar

       % Open existing presentation:
       op = invoke(ppt.Presentations,'Open',clearppt);
  
       % Get current number of slides:
       slide_count = get(op.Slides,'Count');
    
       % Add a new slide (with title object):
       slide_count = int32(double(slide_count)+1);
       new_slide = invoke(op.Slides,'Add',slide_count,11);
    
       % Insert text into the title object:
       new_slide.Shapes.Title.TextFrame.TextRange.Text=titletext;

   % Save file as new:
   invoke(op,'SaveAs',outfileppt,1);

   % Close the presentation window:
   invoke(op,'Close');
   % Quit PowerPoint
   invoke(ppt,'Quit');
   % Close PowerPoint and terminate ActiveX:
   delete(ppt);


Unfortunatley the resulting title is:
    LINE1 line2
instead of:
    LINE1
    line2

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Calves

> Does anyone know how to use activeX in Maltab so that
> you can write a multiline title text?
>
> Here's an excerpt of the code I'm using.
>
> titletext=sprintf('LINE1\nline2');


Microsoft Office uses char(13) to split multi-line strings. Matlab's sprintf() uses char(10) for '\n', which is the reason it didn't work for you. So, do this instead:

  titletext = ['LINE1' char(13) 'line2'];

You might wish to try out OfficeDoc (http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=15192) in order to read/write/format PowerPoint and other MS Office documents without the hassle of low-level programming.

Yair Altman
http://www.ymasoftware.com

Thanks, worked great.

Another question. Can you tell me how to reference an already exisiting powerpoint slide in activeX so that I can update the title?

Calves

> Can you tell me how to reference an already exisiting powerpoint slide in activeX?


slide = invoke(op.Slides,'Item',slideNumber);
invoke(slide,'Select');

Yair Altman
http://www.ymasoftware.com

Thanks again.
I have another one for you or anybody else out there that might be able to answer. I can not get the correct font color for my text box in PowerPoint using ActiveX.

    text_box=invoke(new_slide.Shapes,'AddTextbox','msoTextOrientationHorizontal', 259.25, 20.75, 200, 20);
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Text='Hello';
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Size=8;
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = 'ppAlignCenter';
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Bold = 'msoFalse';
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Color.RGB='255,255,0;

When I examine the color attributes in PowerPoint it says the text RGB color is 230,242,38.

I also tried...

text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Color.RGB='(255,255,0)';

and this gave me a text RGB color of 26,13,217.

Obviously I'm doing something wrong, but I don't know what.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Calves

The RGB character string was being converted to an integer. The integer was then being used as an index to all the RGB colors (256^3 or 0->16777215). Here's how I corrected my problem and was able to get the correct text color for my textbox in PowerPoint.

    text_box=invoke(new_slide.Shapes,'AddTextbox','msoTextOrientationHorizontal', 259.25, 20.75, 200, 20);
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Text='Hello';
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Size=8;
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = 'ppAlignCenter';
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Bold = 'msoFalse';
    %Convert RGB colors to an RGB color index
        RGBcolor=[255,0,255]; RGBcolor=rem(RGBcolor,256);
        RGBindex=RGBcolor(1)+RGBcolor(2)*256+RGBcolor(3)*65536;
    text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Color.RGB=RGBindex;


I hope this helps someone else out there.
Calves

Hi.

How can I set the background color of the whole presentation to certain solid color like RGB(200,100,100). This may help, I think:
ActivePresentation.SlideMaster.Background.Fill.PresetGradient _
    Style:=msoGradientHorizontal, Variant:=1, _
    PresetGradientType:=msoGradientLateSunset

Also, can you help me explain how to write VBA commands in Matlab.
For eg, the following code from Developer help:
With ActivePresentation.Slides(1)
    .FollowMasterBackground = False
    .Background.Fill.PresetGradient Style:=msoGradientHorizontal, _
        Variant:=1, PresetGradientType:=msoGradientLateSunset
End With

Given op = invoke(ppt.Presentations,'Open',filespec,[],[],0).
How can I write the corresponding commands for these VBA code in Matlab?
I have tried:
 
invoke(op.Slides,'FollowMasterBackground',0);
invoke(op.Slides.Background.Fill,'PresetGradient', 'msoGradientHorizontal',1,'msoGradientLateSunset');
but it is not working.
From my observation of others' codes, it seems that the command will have the form of
invoke(method prefix,'method name','method args') as in invoke(op.Slides,'FollowMasterBackground',0);
Is it correct?
Another question: when should we use set/get/invoke? I am a little confused on this.
Thank you in advance!

Hi.

How can I set the background color of the whole presentation to certain solid color like RGB(200,100,100). This may help, I think:
ActivePresentation.SlideMaster.Background.Fill.PresetGradient _
    Style:=msoGradientHorizontal, Variant:=1, _
    PresetGradientType:=msoGradientLateSunset

Also, can you help me explain how to write VBA commands in Matlab.
For eg, the following code from Developer help:
With ActivePresentation.Slides(1)
    .FollowMasterBackground = False
    .Background.Fill.PresetGradient Style:=msoGradientHorizontal, _
        Variant:=1, PresetGradientType:=msoGradientLateSunset
End With

Given op = invoke(ppt.Presentations,'Open',filespec,[],[],0).
How can I write the corresponding commands for these VBA code in Matlab?
I have tried:
 
invoke(op.Slides,'FollowMasterBackground',0);
invoke(op.Slides.Background.Fill,'PresetGradient', 'msoGradientHorizontal',1,'msoGradientLateSunset');
but it is not working.
From my observation of others' codes, it seems that the command will have the form of
invoke(method prefix,'method name','method args') as in invoke(op.Slides,'FollowMasterBackground',0);
Is it correct?
Another question: when should we use set/get/invoke? I am a little confused on this.
Thank you in advance!

"Calves" wrote in message <f7lole$dhk$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> Does anyone know how to use activeX in Maltab so that you can write a multiline title text?
>
> Here's an excerpt of the code I'm using.
>
> titletext=sprintf('LINE1\nline2');
>
> writepath=pwd;
> clearppt='MC_default.ppt'
> outfileppt='TitleTest.ppt'
>
> clearppt = [writepath '\' clearppt];
> outfileppt = [writepath '\' outfileppt];
>
> % Start an ActiveX session with PowerPoint:
> ppt = actxserver('PowerPoint.Application');
> ppt.Visible = 1; % Keep Application Visible
> ppt.WindowState = 2; % Minimize PowerPoint window to taskbar
>
> % Open existing presentation:
> op = invoke(ppt.Presentations,'Open',clearppt);
>
> % Get current number of slides:
> slide_count = get(op.Slides,'Count');
>
> % Add a new slide (with title object):
> slide_count = int32(double(slide_count)+1);
> new_slide = invoke(op.Slides,'Add',slide_count,11);
>
> % Insert text into the title object:
> new_slide.Shapes.Title.TextFrame.TextRange.Text=titletext;
>
> % Save file as new:
> invoke(op,'SaveAs',outfileppt,1);
>
> % Close the presentation window:
> invoke(op,'Close');
> % Quit PowerPoint
> invoke(ppt,'Quit');
> % Close PowerPoint and terminate ActiveX:
> delete(ppt);
>
>
> Unfortunatley the resulting title is:
> LINE1 line2
> instead of:
> LINE1
> line2
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Calves

This script worked well while I was using PPT 2003, (and Matlab 7.9.0) however after upgrading to PPT 2007 I get an error after op=..., see below. Are the commands different in PPT 2007?

>> op = invoke(ppt.Presentations,'Open',clearppt);
??? Invoke Error, Dispatch Exception:
Source: Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
Description: PowerPoint could not open the file.
Help File:
Help Context ID: 0

"Calves" wrote in message <f7lole$dhk$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> Does anyone know how to use activeX in Maltab so that you can write a multiline title text?
>
> Here's an excerpt of the code I'm using.
>
> titletext=sprintf('LINE1\nline2');
>
> writepath=pwd;
> clearppt='MC_default.ppt'
> outfileppt='TitleTest.ppt'
>
> clearppt = [writepath '\' clearppt];
> outfileppt = [writepath '\' outfileppt];
>
> % Start an ActiveX session with PowerPoint:
> ppt = actxserver('PowerPoint.Application');
> ppt.Visible = 1; % Keep Application Visible
> ppt.WindowState = 2; % Minimize PowerPoint window to taskbar
>
> % Open existing presentation:
> op = invoke(ppt.Presentations,'Open',clearppt);
>
> % Get current number of slides:
> slide_count = get(op.Slides,'Count');
>
> % Add a new slide (with title object):
> slide_count = int32(double(slide_count)+1);
> new_slide = invoke(op.Slides,'Add',slide_count,11);
>
> % Insert text into the title object:
> new_slide.Shapes.Title.TextFrame.TextRange.Text=titletext;
>
> % Save file as new:
> invoke(op,'SaveAs',outfileppt,1);
>
> % Close the presentation window:
> invoke(op,'Close');
> % Quit PowerPoint
> invoke(ppt,'Quit');
> % Close PowerPoint and terminate ActiveX:
> delete(ppt);
>
>
> Unfortunatley the resulting title is:
> LINE1 line2
> instead of:
> LINE1
> line2
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Calves

Thanks to your clear example I see how to work with the "Title" in PPT. Is there a similar way I can work with the "Footer"?