PPT2000: Introduction to Macro Programming in PowerPoint 2000

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2000

SUMMARY

This article explains 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

Q230746 PPT: Viewer: Presentation Macros Don't Run

Create A New Presentation

1. On the File menu, click New. This opens up the New Presentation dialog box.



2. Select the Blank Presentation icon on the General tab and click OK. This opens the New Slide dialog box.



3. Click to select the Blank AutoLayout, located in the lower right corner, and click OK.

Create a Macro

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. This opens up the Macro dialog box.



2. In the Macro name box, type 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.
   
   Do not 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.



3. Click Create. 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

1. Type the following line of code between the Sub and End Sub:

   
   Dim MySlide As Slide 

   When you type in the code, you probably noticed some interesting things happen. After you press SPACE following the word "as", a 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. Inthis case, MySlide will have the data type Slide.




2. 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 that is created uses the Title Only auto layout.
   
   

   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 about creating slides programmatically, click Microsoft PowerPoint Help on the Help menu, type "Add Slides" in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.
   For more information about the slide AutoLayouts available, click Microsoft PowerPoint Help on the Help menu, type "PpPlaceHolder Type" in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.
   

   TIP: When you type code, if the property and method list appears, 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 similar to the following:

   
         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.
   
   Now that your macro actually does something, try running the macro.

Run the Macro

1. Click Close and Return to Microsoft PowerPoint from the File menu. The Visual Basic Editor closes, and you return to PowerPoint.



2. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. This opens the Macro dialog box.



3. Select your macro from the list, and then click Run.

View the Macro Code

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. The Macro dialog box appears.



2. Click the macro that you want to edit. The name of the macro should appear highlighted.



3. Click 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 cannot record in PowerPoint.

Add Some More Code

1. Add the next line of code to your macro:

   
   ActiveWindow.ViewType = ppViewSlideSorter 

   This changes the presentation to slide sorter view. Add this so you can select the entire slide.

   For more information about PowerPoint views, click Microsoft PowerPoint Help on the Help menu, type "views" in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.
   




2. 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.



3. 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. If you use With to group multiple commands, you can improve the performance of the macro, as well as save yourself a lot of typing.
   If you do not use the With statement, the code would look similar to the following:

   
         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.



4. 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.



5. 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.




6. 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 using the sample code in this article, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q212536 OFF2000: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

Additional query words: 9.00 ppt9 vba vbe ppt2k powerpt vba2k ppt9.0 ppt2000 program programming

Keywords          : kbcode kbmacro kbprg kbdta kbdtacode kbpptvba 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : 

Last Reviewed: July 14, 1999