How do I use VBA to add periods in tables? - vba

Question

I have the below code which adds periods to the body of a PPT slide:
Sub TitlePeriod()
On Error Resume Next
Dim sld As Slide
Dim shp As Shape
Dim strTitle As String
For Each sld In ActivePresentation.Slides
If sld.Shapes.HasTitle = True Then 'check if there is a title
strTitle = sld.Shapes.Title.TextFrame.TextRange.Text
Else
strTitle = ""
End If
For Each shp In sld.Shapes
'add periods only if text of shape is not equal to title text.
If strTitle <> shp.TextFrame.TextRange.Text Then
shp.TextFrame.TextRange.AddPeriods
If shp.HasTable Then
shp.TextFrame.TextRange.AddPeriods
End If
End If
Next shp
Next sld
End Sub
I am trying to add bit to the code that will add periods to tables within a slide as well
If shp.HasTable Then
shp.TextFrame.TextRange.AddPeriods
When I run the code there are not errors, but there are no periods added within the table. Would love some advice or any tips on how to fix this.
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

First, I would like to offer some advice. When trying to figure out issues like this, it is best to try to examine the object in the locals window. This way, you can search through the properties of the object (in this case, the shape object, shp, which happens to be a Table) and figure out which properties you need to modify to achieve your desired results. No offense meant, but from your questions, it appears that you are new to VBA and found some of this code somewhere.
Also, the code was actually causing an error for me, as the Table shape did not have a textframe (although I only made a test table....perhaps yours actually had one). I added a check for the textFrame.
For your specific question, a shape object with a table, has a Table property that needs to be used to add things to the cells. The Table, in turn, has a Columns object which is a collection of columns. You need to loop through all of the columns. Each column is a collection of cells, so you need to loop through the cells. Each cell has the textframe and textrange objects you are looking for, so you need to run the .AddPeriods method on these objects.
Sub TitlePeriod()
On Error Resume Next
Dim sld As Slide
Dim shp As Shape
Dim strTitle As String
Dim myTable As Table
Dim myColumns As Columns
Dim col As Column
Dim myCell As Cell
For Each sld In ActivePresentation.Slides
If sld.Shapes.HasTitle = True Then 'check if there is a title
strTitle = sld.Shapes.Title.TextFrame.TextRange.Text
Else
strTitle = ""
End If
For Each shp In sld.Shapes
'add periods only if text of shape is not equal to title text.
If shp.TextFrame.HasText Then 'check to make sure there is text in the shape
If strTitle <> shp.TextFrame.TextRange.Text Then
shp.TextFrame.TextRange.AddPeriods
End If
End If
If shp.HasTable Then 'Check to see if shape is a table
Set myTable = shp.Table 'Get the table object of the shape
Set myColumns = myTable.Columns 'Get the columns of the table
For Each col In myColumns 'Loop through the columns
For Each myCell In col.Cells 'Loop through the cells in the column
myCell.Shape.TextFrame.TextRange.AddPeriods 'Add periods to the cell
Next myCell
Next col
End If
Next shp
Next sld
End Sub