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!
Related
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.
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.
I'm trying to have several slides with tables, each table has 3 columns, the last column is the "reference value" and I want it to be hidden during the presentation and show it only by pressing a button or a hyperlink, each row individually. I think it's possible because I'm really new at coding and I have managed to do it by changing the cell's text format from white (which is the table's background color) to red, but I can only do it for all the tables at once, and I need individual values on each one of them. (I hope I'm making myself clear). This is what I have done so far:
Sub format()
Dim s As Slide
Dim oSh As Shape
Dim oTbl As Table
For Each s In ActivePresentation.Slides
For Each oSh In s.Shapes
If oSh.HasTable Then
Set oTbl = oSh.Table
With oTbl.Cell(2, 3).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange
.Text = "4500-9000"
.Font.Size = 12
.Font.Color = vbRed
End With
End If
Next
Next s
End Sub
But this will change the same cell on every table I have, I want it to change specific cells in specific tables one by one, since they all have different valued. I know I could do this with animations, but I'd rather do it this way.
EDIT: It would be great if, instead of pressing a button, I could get the data by hovering the pointer over the empty cell, and have it hidden away again when I hover the cursor off the cell.
In any case, whenever I do any change to the presentation during slideshow, the change will still be there at the end, which means It would only work once and then I would have to fix and hide all the values again, is there a way to restore the changes done during the presentation when it ends?
you could adpt your sub and call it from another procedure by passing a reference to the table and cell you want to process like this:
Sub FormatTableCell(oTbl As Shape, lRow As Long, lCol As Long)
With oTbl.Cell(lRow, lCol).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange
.Text = "4500-9000"
.Font.Size = 12
.Font.Color = vbRed
End With
End Sub
For example:
With ActivePresentation
FormatTableCell .Slides(1).Shapes("MyTable"), lRow:=1, lCol:=1
End With
Regarding the triggers for hover over and hover out, this is a tricky aspect of PowerPoint. There IS a trigger to run code when hovering over a shape but there is NOT a trigger for hovering out of a shape. To achieve the latter, you could put a transparent rectangle in the back layer of your slide and use that to spoof the hover out trigger by linking a hover over macro to it. Write your code and use the Insert / Action / Mouse Over function to trigger your VBA procedure with a signature like this:
Public Sub FormatThisTable(oTbl As Shape)
Note that this method only passes the shape (a table in your case) and not the cell the mouse is hovering over. The only way I can see you could achieve that would be to use a lot of very complex Windows APIs to detect the mouse cursor position relative to the table's on-screen coordinates.
Alternative approaches could either be to ungroup the table to a set of separate shapes or create cover shapes for each cell you need to show/hide and manage their visibility properties using the mouse in/out technique above.
For the last point, you will need to use application level events which requires code in a class module and this a good article to show you how:
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00004_Make_your_VBA_code_in_PowerPoint_respond_to_events.htm
Step 1
Launch PowerPoint and open the PPTX file that contains the rows you want to hide. Click the appropriate slide in the Slides pane to the left of the screen.
Step 2
Double-click the spreadsheet on the slide, which will allow you to edit it. Select the rows that you want to hide. Click the “Home” tab and locate the “Cells” section. Click the “Format” option, which will display a list of available features.
Step 3
Place the pointer over the “Hide & Unhide” listing in the “Visibility” section. Click the “Hide Rows” option to hide the selected rows. Click outside the spreadsheet to return to the PowerPoint slide.
First and foremost, my due diligence rounded up a ton of answers regarding ActiveX Text Boxes, but nothing really about Object Text Boxes. For my project, I cannot use any ActiveX.
OK, so when a Sheet is Unprotected, an Object Text Box (from Insert > Shapes) works pretty much the way I want it to: the most important thing being that I can hit the Enter key and get a carriage return. Then, I go into the Shape Properties, and uncheck Lock Text, and protect the sheet.
Once the sheet is protected, though, the ability to do carriage returns (type Enter, and go down one line) goes away. Shift+Enter and Alt+Enter are no-goes as well.
Is it just not possible to have this functionality available? Are there any workarounds? Why does Excel hate me? Here are some of my ideas:
Unprotect Sheet when Text Box is clicked/activated, Protect when not
(couldn't figure out the syntax in VBA for this. "If Intersect..." is what I'm thinking)
Insert Word Doc Object (don't like this because one-click enters the
formula bar editing, and I can't get the font to stay)
Just use a merged cell and instruct users to double-click to enter
and use Alt+Enter for a new line.
The winning option for now is using a merged cell, but I may just have to see if ActiveX will work on our network. I really want to stick to the KISS principle here if at all possible for the end user...I don't mind coding in the backend to make it work, though.
Thank you for your thoughts!
EDIT: Here's some images to help...
Here's the functionality that I would like to have when my Sheet is protected:
Next, this is an ActiveX text box with it's properties window displayed (Developer > Design Mode > Properties). The properties that make it somewhat usable when the Sheet is protected are circled in red, the Multiline and Enter Key Behavior. But again, I'd prefer to not have to use ActiveX...plus, the user cannot change font color by line.
Finally, I found this interesting: There is another Text box under Form Control that is grayed out. From a search, it looks like this was taken away in favor of the drawing objects version of the text box...or maybe it's the same? The left is the drawing objects one, the middle is the grayed out Form Control, and the right is the ActiveX.
In sum, I would just like to see if there is a way to have the functionality of an unprotected Sheet's Shapes Text Box when the sheet is protected.
Assuming you are working with a TextBox shape, inserted from the ribbon, here:
Then you can use the optional parameter in the Protect method:
Sheet1.Protect DrawingObjects:=False
This will allow the user to edit text boxes on the worksheet, but the sheet itself will remain protected.
If you are using a Form Control (inserted from the Develper/Design ribbon) then you can set the .MultiLine property by accessing the shape's OLEFormat.Object:
Sub test()
Dim tb As Shape
Dim x As Object
'Get a handle on the SHAPE
Set tb = ActiveSheet.Shapes(2)
'You have to access its properties from the OLEFormat.Object:
tb.OLEFormat.Object.Object.MultiLine = True
End Sub
In my test, even on a Protected worksheet this allows the user to Shift + Enter to insert carriage returns:
Ctrl + Shift + Enter seems to work on a protected sheet.
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