Group shapes in same height across multiple rows in Powerpoint using VBA - vba

Question

I want to create a VBA macro in PPT to Group shapes in same height across multiple rows in Powerpoint using VBA. My initial step would be ideally like this image:
Group Textboxes row wise
There is a matrix of textboxes in many rows and columns evenly distributed vertically & horizontally. I want to select all the shapes altogether and run a macro to group the textboxes row wise, into multiple rows. Code below is copied and not final yet, Appreciate any help, snippets for this, thanks a lot.
Sub GroupSameHeightObjects()
' Dimension the variables.
Dim shapeObject As shape
Dim lSlideNumber As Long
Dim strPrompt, strTitle As String
Dim ShapeList() As String
Dim count As Long
' Initialize the counter.
count = 0
' Make sure PowerPoint is in slide view.
If ActiveWindow.ViewType <> ppViewSlide Then
' Set up the error message.
strPrompt = "You must be in slide view to run this macro." _
& " Change to slide view and run the macro again."
strTitle = "Not In Slide View"
' Display the error message.
MsgBox strPrompt, vbExclamation, strTitle
' Stop the macro.
End
End If
' Get the current slide number.
lSlideNumber = ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.SlideNumber
' Loop through the shapes on the slide.
For Each shapeObject In _
ActivePresentation.Slides(lSlideNumber).Shapes
' See whether shape is a placeholder.
If shapeObject.Type <> msoPlaceholder Then
' Increment count if the shape is not a placeholder.
count = count + 1
' Get the name of the shape and store it in the ShapeList
' array.
ReDim Preserve ShapeList(1 To count)
ShapeList(count) = shapeObject.Name
End If
Next shapeObject
' If more than 1 object (excluding a placeholder object) is found,
' group the objects.
If count > 1 Then
With ActivePresentation.Slides(lSlideNumber).Shapes
' Group the shapes together.
.Range(ShapeList()).Group.Select
End With
Else
Select Case count
' One shape found.
Case 1
' Set up the message.
strPrompt = "Only one shape found." _
& " You need at least two shapes to group."
strTitle = "One Shape Available"
' Zero shapes found.
Case 0
' Set up the message.
strPrompt = "No shapes found. You need to have at " _
& "least two shapes, excluding placeholders."
strTitle = "No Shapes Available"
' An error occurred.
Case Else
' Set up the message.
strPrompt = "The macro found an error it could not correct."
strTitle = "Error"
End Select
' Display the message.
MsgBox strPrompt, vbExclamation, strTitle
End If
End Sub

Answer 1

I don't have time right now to write/test any code, but if I had to do this, I'd start with something like this snippet I had from another project:
Sub GroupCertainShapes()
Dim x As Long
Dim sTemp As String
Dim aShapeList() As String
Dim lShapeCount As Long
With ActivePresentation.Slides(1)
' iterate through all shapes on the slide
' to get a count of shapes that meet our condition
For x = 1 To .Shapes.Count
' Does the shape meet our condition? count it.
If .Shapes(x).Type = msoAutoShape Then
lShapeCount = lShapeCount + 1
End If
Next
' now we know how many elements to include in our array,
' so redim it:
ReDim aShapeList(1 To lShapeCount)
' Reset the shape counter
lShapeCount = 0
' Now add the shapes that meet our condition
' to the array:
For x = 1 To .Shapes.Count
' apply some criterion for including the shape or not
If .Shapes(x).Type = msoAutoShape Then
lShapeCount = lShapeCount + 1
aShapeList(lShapeCount) = .Shapes(x).Name
End If
Next
' and finally form a group from the shapes in the array:
If UBound(aShapeList) > 0 Then
.Shapes.Range(aShapeList).Group
End If
End With
End Sub

Answer 2

A couple of things that may not give you fully what you're after but that'll save you some trouble down the line:
Sub GroupSameHeightObjects()
' Dimension the variables.
Dim shapeObject As shape
Dim lSlideNumber As Long
' This will dim strPrompt as a variant
' Dim strPrompt, strTitle As String
Dim strPrompt as string, strTitle as string
Dim ShapeList() As String
Dim count As Long
' Initialize the counter.
count = 0
' Make sure PowerPoint is in slide view.
If ActiveWindow.ViewType <> ppViewSlide Then
' Set up the error message.
strPrompt = "You must be in slide view to run this macro." _
& " Change to slide view and run the macro again."
strTitle = "Not In Slide View"
' Display the error message.
MsgBox strPrompt, vbExclamation, strTitle
' Stop the macro.
' See previous comment
'End
Exit Sub
End If
' Get the current slide number.
' Nope, you want the SlideIndex; SlideNumber gives you the number that'll
' appear when you use PPT's slide numbering features; if the user sets the
' starting number to something other than 1, your code will break
'lSlideNumber = ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.SlideNumber
lSlideNumber = ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.SlideIndex
' Loop through the shapes on the slide.
For Each shapeObject In _
ActivePresentation.Slides(lSlideNumber).Shapes
' See whether shape is a placeholder.
If shapeObject.Type <> msoPlaceholder Then
' Increment count if the shape is not a placeholder.
count = count + 1
' Get the name of the shape and store it in the ShapeList
' array.
' I've learned not to trust shape names in PPT
' I'd dim ShapeList as an array of shapes and then
' Set ShapeList(count) = shapeObject
ReDim Preserve ShapeList(1 To count)
ShapeList(count) = shapeObject.Name
End If
Next shapeObject
' You could include this next bit in the following Case selector,
' Case > 1 ... etc.
' If more than 1 object (excluding a placeholder object) is found,
' group the objects.
If count > 1 Then
With ActivePresentation.Slides(lSlideNumber).Shapes
' Group the shapes together.
.Range(ShapeList()).Group.Select
End With
Else
Select Case count
' One shape found.
Case 1
' Set up the message.
strPrompt = "Only one shape found." _
& " You need at least two shapes to group."
strTitle = "One Shape Available"
' Zero shapes found.
Case 0
' Set up the message.
strPrompt = "No shapes found. You need to have at " _
& "least two shapes, excluding placeholders."
strTitle = "No Shapes Available"
' An error occurred.
Case Else
' Set up the message.
strPrompt = "The macro found an error it could not correct."
strTitle = "Error"
End Select
' Display the message.
MsgBox strPrompt, vbExclamation, strTitle
End If
End Sub