PPT: Introduction to Macro Programming in PowerPoint 97 (162102)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows
This article was previously published under Q162102

SUMMARY

This article describes 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. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers 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 requirements.

Create a New Presentation

  1. On the File menu, click New.

    This opens 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. Select the Blank AutoLayout in the lower-right corner, and click OK.
You now have a blank presentation open, ready to create the macro.

Create a Macro

  1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.

    This opens the Macro dialog box.
  2. In the Macro Name box, type a name for your macro.

    NOTE: Macro names 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.

    If you type an invalid macro name, you receive a message similar to the following
    <macro name> is not a valid name for a macro
    where <macro name> is the name that you typed for the macro.
  3. Click Create.

    This opens the Visual Basic Editor. The Visual Basic Editor is an area where you can create, edit, and debug your macros.

Add Code to a New Macro

You are now looking at a flashing insertion point 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.
  1. 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.
  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 created uses the Title Only AutoLayout. 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 about 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 now looks 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, you can try running the macro.

Run the Macro

There are several methods to run a macro. Only one method is described in this article.
  1. On the File menu, click Close and Return to Microsoft PowerPoint.

    The Visual Basic Editor closes and you return to PowerPoint.
  2. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.

    This opens up the Macro dialog box.
  3. Select your macro from the list and then click Run.
PowerPoint adds a new slide to the beginning of your presentation. Now let's add some more code.

View the Macro Code

To view the source code of a specific macro, follow these steps:
  1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.

    This opens up the Macro dialog box.
  2. Click the macro that you want to edit.
  3. Click Edit.

    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

You are now ready to add the rest of the commands to complete the macro.
  1. Type the following as the next line of code in your macro: 
          ActiveWindow.ViewType = ppViewSlideSorter
    This changes the presentation to slide sorter view. We are doing this so we can select the entire slide, including the slide itself.

    For more information about PowerPoint views, search for "views" using the Help menu.
  2. Add the next line of code to your macro: 
          MySlide.Select
    This code selects the slide that you created. MySlide is the object reference that 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. Using With to group multiple commands can improve the performance of the macro as well as saving you a lot of typing.

    If you didn't use the With statement, your 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 main disadvantage of the With statement is that 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 that 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 line of code starts the presentation as a 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:

176476 OFF: 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:

163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/11/2006
Keywords:kbcode kbdtacode kbmacro kbProgramming KB162102
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