PowerPoint Programming: Indentation with Ruler margin levels not working? - vsto

Question

Recently we upgraded one our PowerPoint addin to support 2007 and 2010. most of the items we were able to port without problem. one problem we have is that indentations doesn't work when create tables or shapes using the addin.
for eg: same table gets dropped with proper indentation in 2003 but same thing doesn't get indentation when added to using 2007.
below is the code snippet that allows indenting:
With PropertyValues.ObjShape.Table.Cell(row, col).Shape.TextFrame.Ruler
For rulerCount = 0 To 5
.Levels(rulerCount).FirstMargin = rulerFirstMargin(rulerCount) '.LeftMargin = rulerLeftMargin
.Levels(rulerCount).LeftMargin = rulerLeftMargin(rulerCount) 'Left indent marker
Next rulerCount
End With
any idea why this is not working ?
I read the following thread too but didn't help much http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2007-customize/why-shapetextframerulerlevelsi-cant-set-the-bullet/9eac3e46-b13b-433e-b588-216ead1d9c1a?tab=AllReplies#tabs
Updated Code:
PropertyValues.ObjShape.Table.Cell(row, col).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "N/A"
With PropertyValues.ObjShape.Table.Cell(row, col).Shape.TextFrame
'Dim rulerCount As Short
For rulerCount = 1 To 5
.Ruler.Levels(rulerCount).FirstMargin = 10 * rulerCount 'rulerFirstMargin(rulerCount) '.LeftMargin = rulerLeftMargin
.Ruler.Levels(rulerCount).LeftMargin = 20 * rulerCount 'rulerLeftMargin(rulerCount) 'Left indent marker
Next rulerCount
End With
PropertyValues.ObjShape.Table.Cell(row, col).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = text

Answer 1

FWIW, in 2007 and up, you can now have up to 9 ruler levels instead of 5 as in earler versions. But your code should work as is. Here's a simplified version that does work on an arbitrary cell (2,2) of a table:
Dim oSh As Shape
Dim x As Long
Set oSh = ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange(1)
With oSh.Table.Cell(2, 2).Shape.TextFrame
For x = 1 To 9
.Ruler.Levels(x).LeftMargin = x * 10
.Ruler.Levels(x).FirstMargin = x * 20
Next
End With
The other thing you might be running into is that you can apply certain types of formatting (including ruler settings) all you like; if there's no text at the level you're applying it to, PPT won't bark. It'll ignore you. Your settings will have no effect. Sometimes you need to check for text, supply some if there's none there (something highly improbable in the real world) then delete all instances of your improbable text afterwards.
Ugly. Yes.
Here we add text and set indent levels before trying to FORMAT each indent level:
Sub test()
Dim oSh As Shape
Set oSh = ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange(1)
Dim RulerCount As Long
Dim sTemp As String
sTemp = "##$%" ' dummy text
With oSh.Table.Cell(2, 3).Shape.TextFrame
For RulerCount = 1 To 5
.TextRange.Paragraphs(RulerCount).Text = sTemp & vbCrLf
.TextRange.Paragraphs(RulerCount).IndentLevel = RulerCount
Next
For RulerCount = 1 To 5
.Ruler.Levels(RulerCount).FirstMargin = 10 * RulerCount 'rulerFirstMargin(rulerCount) '.LeftMargin = rulerLeftMargin
.Ruler.Levels(RulerCount).LeftMargin = 20 * RulerCount 'rulerLeftMargin(rulerCount) 'Left indent marker
Next RulerCount
End With
End Sub