Thread Subject:

Pasting a symbol into a powerpoint slide from MATLAB

I'm trying to create some Powerpoint slides from within matlab and can do the various things like create a title, new slide, etc... When I create the title, I require being able to write out a greek symbol, like alpha, beta, or lambda. When I try adding the symbol character, a box appears (symbol shows as a box in matlab too). A snippet of the code I'm using is below:


ppt = actxserver('PowerPoint.Application')
ppt.Visible = 1
thisPresentation = ppt.Presentations.Open(file)

text_here = ['my text with symbol ' char(value for greek symbol)]

thisSlide = ppt.ActiveWindow.View.Slide
text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = text_here
text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.FontSize = 24

I've tried inserting various ascii/utf values for symbols, but not all will show up in matlab. In the matlab slide, I'll get a text box with 'my text with symbol ' and a box after. Is it not possible to add a non-standard symbol using this method? Any simple ideas on getting a greek symbol into the text from matlab?

Thanks,

Keane Gonzalez

"Keane " <keane_gonzalezREMOVE@hotmail.com> wrote in message <h61l3f$atj$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> I'm trying to create some Powerpoint slides from within matlab and can do the various things like create a title, new slide, etc... When I create the title, I require being able to write out a greek symbol, like alpha, beta, or lambda. When I try adding the symbol character, a box appears (symbol shows as a box in matlab too). A snippet of the code I'm using is below:
>
>
> ppt = actxserver('PowerPoint.Application')
> ppt.Visible = 1
> thisPresentation = ppt.Presentations.Open(file)
>
> text_here = ['my text with symbol ' char(value for greek symbol)]
>
> thisSlide = ppt.ActiveWindow.View.Slide
> text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = text_here
> text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.FontSize = 24
>
> I've tried inserting various ascii/utf values for symbols, but not all will show up in matlab. In the matlab slide, I'll get a text box with 'my text with symbol ' and a box after. Is it not possible to add a non-standard symbol using this method? Any simple ideas on getting a greek symbol into the text from matlab?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Keane Gonzalez

You should set the Powerpoint TextRange font to a font that includes these ASCII codes - not all fonts do.

Yair Altman
http://UndocumentedMatlab.com
 

Yair,
  Thanks for the font hint. I've tried multiple fonts and most of the mainstream fonts seem to have the greek letters support (except for some of those obscure fonts). I can print out some characters by just sending the raw UTF code, like:

text_to_show = [ 'test line here ' 188 ' symbol should have printed']

For some odd reason, the greek symbols just will not show up. Thanks for the help though.

Keane


"Yair Altman" <altmanyDEL@gmailDEL.comDEL> wrote in message <h63o6q$7qr$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> "Keane " <keane_gonzalezREMOVE@hotmail.com> wrote in message <h61l3f$atj$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> > I'm trying to create some Powerpoint slides from within matlab and can do the various things like create a title, new slide, etc... When I create the title, I require being able to write out a greek symbol, like alpha, beta, or lambda. When I try adding the symbol character, a box appears (symbol shows as a box in matlab too). A snippet of the code I'm using is below:
> >
> >
> > ppt = actxserver('PowerPoint.Application')
> > ppt.Visible = 1
> > thisPresentation = ppt.Presentations.Open(file)
> >
> > text_here = ['my text with symbol ' char(value for greek symbol)]
> >
> > thisSlide = ppt.ActiveWindow.View.Slide
> > text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = text_here
> > text_box.TextFrame.TextRange.FontSize = 24
> >
> > I've tried inserting various ascii/utf values for symbols, but not all will show up in matlab. In the matlab slide, I'll get a text box with 'my text with symbol ' and a box after. Is it not possible to add a non-standard symbol using this method? Any simple ideas on getting a greek symbol into the text from matlab?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Keane Gonzalez
>
> You should set the Powerpoint TextRange font to a font that includes these ASCII codes - not all fonts do.
>
> Yair Altman
> http://UndocumentedMatlab.com
>