PPT: Introduction to Macro Programming in PowerPoint 97 and 98
ID: Q162102
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The information in this article applies to:
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Microsoft PowerPoint 98 Macintosh Edition
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Microsoft PowerPoint 97 For Windows
SUMMARY
This article walks you through the steps to create a simple Microsoft
Visual Basic for Applications macro within Microsoft PowerPoint. The macro
you create will add a slide to your presentation, set a background texture
for a slide, set slide timings, and run a slide show.
This article is designed to introduce you to some of the tools and concepts
you need to become a macro programmer.
MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without
warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the
implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular
purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming
language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug
procedures. Microsoft Support professionals can help explain the functionality
of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to
provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific
needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact
the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more
information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see
the following page on the World Wide Web:
http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp Create A New Presentation
- On the File menu, click New. This opens up the New Presentation dialog
box.
- Select the Blank Presentation icon on the General tab and click OK.
This opens up the New Slide dialog box.
- Select the Blank AutoLayout, located in the bottom right corner, and
click OK.
You now have a blank presentation open, ready to create the macro.
Create a Macro
- On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. This opens
up the Macro dialog box.
- In the Macro name box, type in a name for your macro. The name must
begin with a letter and can contain up to 80 characters. Visual Basic
for Applications keywords are invalid names for macros. The name cannot
contain any spaces. Programmers typically use an underscore character(_)
to separate words.
Don't worry about trying to remember all the rules for naming macros.
If you enter an invalid macro name, PowerPoint will display a dialog
box with a message similar to the following:
<macro name> is not a valid name for a macro
If you see this message, just keep trying until you find a name that
PowerPoint will accept.
- Click the Create button. This opens the Visual Basic Editor. The Visual
Basic Editor is an application where you can create, edit, and debug
your macros.
Add Code to a New Macro
You should now be looking at a flashing cursor within the Code Window.
The Code Window is where you actually type Visual Basic commands. A
recorded macro can also be viewed in the code window. For the most part,
the Code Window acts like a typical text editor, enabling you to cut,
copy, and paste text. However, there are some differences that make it
easier for you to create macros. The important differences are detailed
below.
- Type the following line of code between the Sub and End Sub:
Dim MySlide As Slide
When you were typing in the code, you probably noticed some interesting
things happen. After you hit the spacebar following the word as, a drop
down list of the available data types appeared on your screen. This is
just one of the ways the Visual Basic Editor makes programming a little
easier.
What does this code do?
Dim Indicates to the Visual Basic Editor you are about to declare
a variable. There are several other methods available to
declare variables, but this article discusses only the Dim
method.
MySlide Is the name you provide the variable. It is a good idea to
give your variables meaningful descriptive names. X is an
example of a poor variable name. Meaningful names make your
code easier to read.
As Slide Specifies the type of data the variable will contain. In
this case, MySlide will have the data type Slide.
- Let's add some more code. Type the following line of code after the
variable declaration:
Set MySlide = ActivePresentation.Slides.Add(1, ppLayoutTitle)
This code adds a new slide to the active presentation. The slide
created uses the Title Only auto layout. Lets take a closer look at
this line of code.
Set MySlide Assigns an object reference to a variable or
property. Using Set makes it easier to refer
to that same object later in your code.
ActivePresentation Tells the Visual Basic Editor you are referring
to the presentation that is open in the active
window.
Add(1, ppLayoutTitle) Creates a new slide and adds it to the
collection of slides in the presentation.
The Add method takes two parameters:
The first parameter, the slide index, is the
number 1 in this case. The slide index is the
position where PowerPoint creates the slide.
When the index is set to 1, PowerPoint creates
the new slide at the beginning of the
presentation.
The second parameter specifies the type of
AutoLayout.
For more information on creating slides programmatically, search for
"Add Slides" using the Help menu.
For more information on the slide AutoLayouts available, search for
"PpPlaceHolder Type" using the Help menu.
TIP: When entering code, if the property and method list pops up, you
can select the item you want and then press TAB, which adds
the object to your command and leave the cursor on the same line.
Your macro code should now look something like this:
Sub YourMacro ()
'
' Macro created 1/7/97 by You
'
Dim MySlide As Slide
Set MySlide = ActivePresentation.Slides.Add(1, ppLayoutTitle)
End Sub
NOTE: The text following ' apostrophe (on the same line) is a comment.
Comments are ignored by the Visual Basic Editor. They are added to the
code to make it easier to understand what is going on in the code.
Now that your macro actually does something, we can try running the
macro.
Run the Macro
There are several methods to run a macro. Only one method is described in
this article.
- Click Close and Return to Microsoft PowerPoint from the File menu. The
Visual Basic Editor closes and you return to PowerPoint.
- On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. This opens the
Macro dialog box.
- Select your macro from the list and then click the Run button.
PowerPoint adds a new slide to the beginning of your presentation. Now
let's add some more code.
View the Macro Code
Use the following steps to view the source code of a specific macro.
- On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. This brings
up the Macro dialog box.
- Click the macro you want to edit. The name of the macro should appear
highlighted.
- Click the Edit Button. This opens the macro within the Visual Basic
Editor. The Visual Basic Editor is where you make corrections, remove
unnecessary steps, or add instructions you can't record in PowerPoint.
Add Some More Code
Now we are ready to add the rest of the commands to complete the macro.
- Add the next line of code to your macro:
ActiveWindow.ViewType = ppViewSlideSorter
This changes the presentation to slide sorter view. We are doing this
so we can select the entire slide.
For more information on PowerPoint views, search for "views" using the
Help menu.
- Add the next line of code to your macro:
MySlide.Select
This code selects the slide you created. MySlide is the object
reference you created with the Dim statement.
- Add the next section of code to your macro:
With ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange
.FollowMasterBackground = msoFalse
.Background.Fill.PresetTextured msoTextureRecycledPaper
End With
These commands tell PowerPoint that this particular slide does not
follow the master and then set the background preset texture to the
recycled paper.
The With statement allows you to group commands that have common
references. Using With to group multiple commands can improve the
performance of the macro as well as saving you a lot of typing.
Without using the With statement the code would look like this:
ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.FollowMasterBackground = msoFalse
ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.Background.Fill.PresetTextured _
msoTextureRecycledPaper
The underscore in the second line is a continuation character. It tells
the Visual Basic Editor that you could not fit the specific command on
one line and are continuing the instruction on the next line.
You can see the advantage of using With statements; less typing and
faster code. The only downside to the With statement is it sometimes
makes the code more difficult to read, especially, if you nest a With
within another With statement.
- Add the next line of code to your macro:
MySlide.Shapes.Title.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "Look What I Did!"
This command adds the text "Look What I Did!" into the title box of the
slide you created.
- Add the next section of code to your macro:
With ActivePresentation.Slides.Range.SlideShowTransition
.AdvanceTime = 5
.EntryEffect = ppEffectCheckerboardAcross
End With
AdvanceTime Specifies how long (in seconds) a particular
slide is visible when running a slide show.
EntryEffect Specifies the slide transition effect that runs just
prior to the slide appearing.
- Add the last line of code to your macro:
ActivePresentation.SlideShowSettings.Run
This code starts the slide show.
The Complete Macro Code
Sub YourMacro()
'
' Macro created <Date> by <You>
'
Dim MySlide As Slide
' Add a new slide to the presentation.
Set MySlide = ActivePresentation.Slides.Add(1, ppLayoutTitle)
' Change the presentation to slide sorter view.
ActiveWindow.ViewType = ppViewSlideSorter
' Select your slide.
MySlide.Select
' Apply a preset texture to the slide.
With ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange
.FollowMasterBackground = msoFalse
.Background.Fill.PresetTextured msoTextureRecycledPaper
End With
' Add text into title of the slide.
MySlide.Shapes.Title.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "Look What I Did!"
' Set the slide timing and transition effect.
With ActivePresentation.Slides.Range.SlideShowTransition
.AdvanceTime = 5
.EntryEffect = ppEffectCheckerboardAcross
End With
' Start the slide show.
ActivePresentation.SlideShowSettings.Run
End Sub
REFERENCES
For more information about creating Visual Basic for Applications macros,
click the Office Assistant in Microsoft PowerPoint, type how to create a
macro click Search, and then click to view "Create a macro in Visual
Basic Editor."
For more information about running Visual Basic for Applications macros,
click the Office Assistant in Microsoft PowerPoint, type how to run a
macro click Search, and then click to view "Run a macro."
NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the
Standard toolbar. If the Assistant is not able to answer your query, please
see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q176476OFF: Office Assistant Not Answering Visual Basic Questions
For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for
Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base:
Q163435VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications
Additional query words:
97 8.00 kbmacro kbpptvba ppt8 vba vbe 98 macppt
Keywords : kbcode kbmacro kbprg kbdta kbdtacode kbpptvba
Version : MACINTOSH:98; WINDOWS:97
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type :
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