How to find the label of a shape on a Powerpoint slide - vba

Can someone please point me in the right direction to finding the label Powerpoint uses for each shape, active x control, etc... I've researched till I'm blue in the face. Here's what I'm talking about:
I have a very simple slideshow that asks a question in a text box. Just below the question I placed an active x control text box to get the user's answer. All I want to do is take the answer and append it to a text file. Here's the code:
Public Sub WriteAnswerToFile(slideNum As Integer, shapeNum As String)
Dim filePath As String
Dim objFSO As FileSystemObject
Dim objFile As Variant
filePath = "C:\Batch Files\Powerpoint\ButtonPushes\AnswerFile.txt"
Const ForAppending = 8
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile("C:\Batch Files\Powerpoint\ButtonPushes\AnswerFile.txt", ForAppending)
objFile.WriteLine (Application.ActivePresentation.Slides(slideNum).Shapes(shapeNum).TextFrame.TextRange)
objFile.Close
End Sub
From each slide, I pass the slide number and the shape designator to the sub routine. The shapeNum is a string because I found that it worked (no better reason than that) for me to pass something like "TextBox 1" as the param. It all works absolutely great if I know the Shape(designator); as in Shape(TextBox1). For the life of me I cannot figure out how to pass the text input by the user into the active x control text box. I have no idea what the designator is. The property sheet for the text input box calls it TextBox1. The Code sheet calls it TextBox1. When I pass that parameter, it prints the question I asked, not the answer, to my text file. I don't know how to call the input text box in my code.
My code prints "How did you hear about us?" to my text file when my code runs with Call WriteAnswerToFile(2, "TextBox 1"). I'm sure that textbox is called textbox 1; it's the first textbox on the slide. I just don't know what Powerpoint labels the user input box.
If there is some sort of Powerpoint scripting or layout page that will define all the shapes in the slidewhow, I'd sure like to be pointed that direction.

You just need to refer to the form part of the Object since this is not a normal shape.
objFile.WriteLine (Application.ActivePresentation.Slides(slideNum).Shapes(shapeNum).OLEFormat.Object.Text)
To clarify from your comment. I think that you have two "Text Box 1". One is "TextBox 1" (note the space) which is the normal textbox and the ActiveX control is "TextBox1" (no space).
If I create a new blank slide and first add a normal text box and then an ActiveX textbox and then run the following code:
For Each shp In Slide2.Shapes
Debug.Print shp.Name
Next shp
The Immediate window will show the following:
TextBox 1
TextBox1

By chance I happened to stumble upon the simplest answer to my question of "finding the label Powerpoint uses for each shape, active x control, etc.."
I am using the Office 16 (Office 365) suite that contains Powerpoint and would not be certain this feature is avaiable to other versions.
On the Home tab in Powerpoint there is an Editing submenu that contains a Select function. As pictured here:
When you click on Select, another submenu appears that shows a Selection Pane function. If you click on that, the selction pane shows up on the right hand of the screen. In that pane you will see all of the objects on the current slide and the names Powerpoint has given to each of them.
It shows there, the discrepancy I was having with calling TextBox(Space)1 and TextBox(NoSpace)1.
This works to be much more expedient for me to grab the name of the shape I want to call in my VBS Scripts.
I am thankful; however, for the time and frustration #Diederik Sieburgh saved me in allowing me to move forward with my project as it is now 2 weeks later that I stumbled upon this information.

Related

How to assign Textshape 1 as the title?

With Office 2016 PPT, after sharing a PPT file and getting it back, it now has retained titles on the slides but they are now "TextShape 1", are in the correct location (top of slide), and do not show up as titles in the outline view, etc.
Merely resetting the slides overlays empty boxes.
How can I make "TextShape 1" on each of the slides to be seen as the Title for the respective slides? A redefinition? Add a new Title box with the content of "TextShape 1", and delete the old box?
Thanks for the views.
It was not easy as a vba-powerpoint beginner finding my way through the collections and terminology, and certainly time consuming, but I wrote a solution for the limited problem as presented.
You might think you could add a title object, but at least the way I tried, it complained that that could not be done with the current slide layout. I could not figure out how to designate a text box as a Title. So I used vba to set the formats to Titleonly for slides without one, copied the text into it, then deleted the old shape that was overlaid with the new one as below:
Attribute VB_Name = "Module1"
Sub newtitles()
Dim s As Variant
For s = 1 To ActivePresentation.Slides.Count
If Not ActivePresentation.Slides(s).Shapes.HasTitle Then
ActivePresentation.Slides(s).Layout = ppLayoutTitleOnly
' adds a title placeholder too; could not .addtitle to slide without a title in format
ActivePresentation.Slides(s).Shapes.Title.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = ActivePresentation.Slides(s).Shapes(1).TextFrame.TextRange.Text
ActivePresentation.Slides(s).Shapes(1).Delete ' remove redundant box
End If 'about title
Next ' slides
End Sub

Insert ActiveX Control Into Powerpoint slide

I'd like to insert a custom ActiveX control into a Powerpoint slide. I've created the custom control and registered it, and tested that it works. I can easily add the custom control to a UserForm, but can't add it directly to the slide (as per the other controls under Developer Tab -> Controls).
Is it possible to add the custom ActiveX control directly to the slide?
If not, is it possible to embed the UserForm directly to the slide?
Thanks!
I'm kind of guessing here, but it's worth giving it a shot. When you registered your ActiveX Control, I'm assuming you assigned a Program ID along with it, correct? If you did, then you might be able to add it as a shape object to the slide you specify. When you add a shape, you can add specific types of shapes, including OLEObjects.
For example, in the code below, I add an ActiveX ComboBox Control to Slide 1 in the Active Presentation using PowerPoint VBA. The critical thing to note is that the ProgID identifies the object being inserted.
Sub ActiveXControlAdd()
'Declare your variables.
Dim PPTPres As Presentation
Dim PPTSld As Slide
Dim PPTShp As Shape
'Grab the slide you want it on.
Set PPTPres = ActivePresentation
Set PPTSld = PPTPres.Slides(1)
'Add a shape, but make sure it's an OLEObject. Also, CLASSNAME is the ProgID!
Set PPTShp = PPTSld.Shapes.AddOLEObject(Left:=100, Top:=100, Width:=150, Height:=50, ClassName:="Forms.ComboBox.1")
'Print it out to make sure.
Debug.Print PPTShp.OLEFormat.ProgID
End Sub
Give it a try and see if that maybe fixes the issue.
If I understand, you want to insert ActiveX control to PowerPoint slide:
Go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon
On the second column, tick the "Developer" tab.
After you tick it you should see a "Developer" tab in PowerPoint; click on it.
The 3rd and 4th column is where the ActiveX controls are:
For example:
You want to insert a textbox.
You click on the icon that says "abc", next to the big "A".
Then you place it on your slide just like you would place a shape. Click & drag.

Running a VBA script from a button after selecting a chart

I’m running Excel 2010 on Windows 7.
I have four charts on a worksheet. What I want to do is select one of the charts and then click a button to open the ‘Format Axis’ dialogue box. I found the following code online to open the dialogue box. If I select a chart and then run the code from the toolbar (Developer tab, Macros, select macro, press ‘Run’), it works well.
Sub formatXAxis1()
ActiveChart.Axes(xlCategory).Select
Application.CommandBars.ExecuteMso "ChartFormatSelection"
End Sub
The trouble I have is when the VBA script is assigned to a button. If I use a shape as the button, I get “Run-time error ‘91’: Object variable or With block variable not set”. I get the same error if I use an ActiveX Command Button. However, with a Form Control button it works as expected. The only problem with this solution is that it is not possible to change the background colour of the button so it looks out of place against the other macro calling buttons on the worksheet.
I'm guessing that in the first two cases (shape and ActiveX buttons), VBA drops or loses the chart selection when I press the button – even though the chart still appears selected on screen. Is there a fix for this, or am I doing something wrong?
For an ActiveX button, in the Properties set the property
TakeFocusOnClick
to False. That will cause Selection to keep on the chart rather than switch to the button and your code should work. The color can also be changed from the properties box, though you probably already know that.
You need to reference the chart by name. So either have 4 buttons (one for each chart), or ask the user to input the name of the chart, then:
Dim co as ChartObject
Dim c as Chart
Dim NameOfChart as String
NameOfChart = Inputbox("Enter name of chart")
Set co = ActiveSheet.ChartObjects(NameOfChart)
Set c = co.chart
c.Axes(xlCategory).Select
Application.CommandBars.ExecuteMso "ChartFormatSelection"

How to name an object within a PowerPoint slide?

So I know how to name a textbox, or a like object in PowerPoint with VB, but I was wondering if there was a way to name objects through the Ribbon (PowerPoint 2007). For instance, if I add a text box onto a slide, is there a way to assign it a name (sort of like the properties window in access, or the textbox in Excel 2003 at the top left side where you can enter the name)?
Basically so I can reference it in code later; without having to use code to name each and every object i add after the fact. Perhaps an easier way through the Ribbon?
PowerPoint for Windows:
Click on the object (textbox, shape, etc.) to select it.
In the Drawing Tools | Format tab, click on Selection Pane in the Arrange group.
From there, you'll see names of objects.
Double click (or press F2) on any name and rename it. By deselecting it, it becomes renamed.
You can also get to this from the Home tab -> Drawing group -> Arrange drop-down -> Selection pane or by pressing ALT + F10.
Select the Object -> Format -> Selection Pane -> Double click to change the name
While the answer above is correct I would not recommend you to change the name in order to rely on it in the code.
Names are tricky. They can change.
You should use the ShapeId and SlideId.
Especially beware to change the name of a shape programmatically since PowerPoint relies on the name and it might hinder its regular operation.
THIS IS NOT AN ANSWER TO THE ORIGINAL QUESTION, IT'S AN ANSWER TO #Teddy's QUESTION IN #Dudi's ANSWER'S COMMENTS
Here's a way to list id's in the active presentation to the immediate window (Ctrl + G) in VBA editor:
Sub ListAllShapes()
Dim curSlide As Slide
Dim curShape As Shape
For Each curSlide In ActivePresentation.Slides
Debug.Print curSlide.SlideID
For Each curShape In curSlide.Shapes
If curShape.TextFrame.HasText Then
Debug.Print curShape.Id
End If
Next curShape
Next curSlide
End Sub
Click Insert ->Object->Create from file ->Browse.
Once the file is selected choose the "Change icon" option and you will be able to rename the file and change the icon if you wish.
Hope this helps!

Renaming Objects in PowerPoint

Probably a very stupid question but I can't figure how to rename an object in PowerPoint.. For example, all my Graphs are called by default "Graph 1" etc.
Could someone help me on that?
Thanks!
In PowerPoint 2007 you can do this from the Selection pane.
To show the Selection pane, click on the Home tab in the ribbon, then click on Arrange and then 'Selection Pane...' at the bottom. The Selection pane will open on the right. (Or press CTRL+F10)
To rename an object, first select the object and then double click on the object name in the Selection pane and you will be able to type the new object name.
(This answer assumes you are merely assigning more meaningful names during development, so your other code that references the objects can be more readable).
Put the code below into a sub, then run it from the slide in question. Each shape will be selected in turn, so you can see what shape is being referenced. An input box will tell you the current name and ask you for a new name. If you cancel or OK a zero-length input, the old name will stay in place. There is no name entry validation in this code, so be sure you type only valid names. After running it once, you can run it again just to check that the names you typed in the first round were applied to the object you intended.
The loop will cover all objects on the current slide, so if you want to process multiple slides, you have to run this separately on each slide. Every object on the slide is considered: title, drawing objects, groups, embedded pictures, equations, etc. etc. - just don't type a new name for objects that you don't care.
After your development is finished, best hide (Private Sub) or erase this code, so your users don't change object names by mistake.
Dim s As Integer, NewName As String
With ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange
For s = 1 To .Shapes.Count
.Shapes(s).Select ' So you can see the object in question
NewName = InputBox(.Shapes(s).Name) ' Tell what current name it is and ask for new name
If Len(NewName) > 0 Then .Shapes(s).Name = NewName ' If you typed a new name, apply it
Next s ' 1 To .Shapes.Count
End With ' ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange
Thanks for your help but actually I am just doing it using VBA...
ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange(1).Name = "newname"
Cheers