Adding text in presentation?

[Kay Ezzell]

I would like for my students to be able to add text to a slide during a
presentation. I thought this was impossible, but saw it being done on
Windows last week. Is there anyway to do this in Office 2004? I thought
about trying to make a macro, but don¹t think it¹s possible to record once I
go into presentation. Is there an AppleScript?

Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

This can be done with a VBA macro. You can check out example 6.7 on my
web site. Just click on Examples by Chapter and then Chapter 6:

http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Kay,

While any presentation is running just control-click (or right-click if
you have a 2-button mouse). A menu will pop up. Choose the Pen options.

-Jim

 

[Kay Ezzell]

I know about the pen. I want a student to be able to type in a text box. I
saw someone on a Windows computer typing in a text box in the presentation
mode.

Thanks!

 

[Kay Ezzell]

Thanks! I did order the book. Looks good. But I'd really like for the
student to be able to type in a text box rather than a pop-up window. This
would be much easier for younger students. Is that possible on a Mac?

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

Kay,

I agree that a real text box would be better for younger students, but I
don't think it is possible on the Mac. Do you have HyperStudio? That
might serve your needs better. You can have students type in real text
boxes in HyperStudio. In fact, if all you want is to have them type, you
can do that without any scripting. If you want to do something based on
what they type (such as judge if the answer is correct), you will need a
little scripting. I have a PDF document online that talks about this:

http://www.loyola.edu/education/facstaff/marcovitz/et620/HyperLogo.pdf

I was working on this document at the same time I was working on a
similar document for PowerPoint. I expanded the PowerPoint document into
my book, but I didn't continue to develop the HyperStudio document, so it
is still freely available online.

--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Kay, David,

I agree that a real text box would be better for younger students, but I
don't think it is possible on the Mac.

Or on PC, if the need is to type into an existing PPT textbox in slideshow
view; that implies selecting the text box (and the text within it) to start,
and since you can't select anything in slideshow view, let me introduce my
friend, Mister Brick Wall.

Haven't had a chance to check your example, David, but I'd guess it uses
InputBox to gather text?


================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

Yes, my example uses an InputBox. I was thinking of creating forms on
the PC that can be used to enter text (I'm guessing that's what Kay saw
that sparked her interest). Of course, you can never type directly into
a regular text box in PowerPoint the same way you can in HyperStudio (not
that I'm pushing HyperStudio in this PowerPoint forum; I have mostly
stopped using HyperStudio myself, but it might be the best tool for Kay).
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Yes, my example uses an InputBox. I was thinking of creating forms on
the PC that can be used to enter text (I'm guessing that's what Kay saw
that sparked her interest).

Ah, yes. That'd make sense.

As to suggesting other products to fill PPTVoids, hey, why not?
If it helps a PPT user, that's what we're about.


================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Kay Ezzell]

Hi David,

HyperStudio has spoiled us. That's part of my problem. I've used that so
many years, I want everything else to do the same things. But we've just
about abandoned HS due to the lack of an OS X version and lack of support
from the company. We've tried Media Blender and mPower, but they still don't
have the power that HS had. I've been trying to use PowerPoint because
that's something that so many of the teachers I work with already have.

Thanks for all your input. I'll keep trying things. I look forward to your
book coming so I can try some of those things. Wish I had it in my hands
right now! But I got a noticed that it has been shipped.

Kay

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi again,

I'd like to refer you to David's example PowerPoint here:
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/ExamplesByChapter/Chapter5/Example05-03.ppt.sit

If you run this presentation and click "what is your name" on slide 1
you will be presented with an input text box.

David uses the text that is entered on the subsequent slides.

If you use Tools > Macro > Macros, then choose to edit the YourName
macro you will see how little code it took to accomplish this feat.

You can make such a textbox appear at any time during a slide and then
use the resulting input in just about any way you can think of for text.

Is this even remotely like what you had in mind?

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP
MVP FAQ
<http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;mvpfaqs>

 

[Kay Ezzell]

I'd prefer typing directly on the slide for younger students, but will have
to make do with the input box for now. I saw a presentation last week where
someone used a Control Toolbox in the XP version of PowerPoint to type
directly on the slide.

Thanks!

Kay