PowerPoint VBS and AppleScript...

[Kurt Godwin]

I need to extract slide information from an arbitrary PowerPoint
presentation (slide objects, animation data, text blocks, etc). I am new to
the Mac, so I don't know what programming languages are supported or even if
an OLE interface exists for the Mac.

I have a current Windows product that uses Visual C++ and opens powerpoint
with OLE automation, and loads a document and extracts slide information,
but I don't know where to start on the Mac.

I just bought Office Mac v.X, then I went to the Microsoft.com/mac web and
found that Office for Mac 2004 has apple script support. Does this mean
Office v.X does not have any automation support?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards,
Kurt

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

If you just bought Office X, you might be able to upgrade to Office 2004
for free. For most software, when a new version comes out within a short
time after you buy an old version, the upgrade is free. I don't know if
that is true in this case, but it might be worth checking out.

Whether or not you upgrade, you might want to look into using VBA (Visual
Basic for Applications). It is built into PowerPoint (versions 97
through 2004 for Mac and Windows). This should be able to extract the
information you want.

--David

--
David M. Marcovitz, Ph.D.
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]

I need to extract slide information from an arbitrary PowerPoint
presentation (slide objects, animation data, text blocks, etc). I am new to
the Mac, so I don't know what programming languages are supported or even if
an OLE interface exists for the Mac.

Do you specifically need to DO this on a Mac or do you simply need to work with
PPT presentations that may have been created on Mac?

If the latter, you should be able to continue working with the same code on the
PC. The formats are the same.

I have a current Windows product that uses Visual C++ and opens powerpoint
with OLE automation, and loads a document and extracts slide information,
but I don't know where to start on the Mac.

I just bought Office Mac v.X, then I went to the Microsoft.com/mac web and
found that Office for Mac 2004 has apple script support. Does this mean
Office v.X does not have any automation support?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards,
Kurt

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[Kurt Godwin]

Unfortunately, I do need to process PPT files (extract information from
them) on the Mac. The windows version uses OLE.
Since the PPT file format is undocumented, and changes between versions of
PowerPoint, Automation allows me to use the powerpoint program itself to
get the information I need.

From what I learned after my first post, AppleScript allows you to launch
PowerPoint, and run a Visual Basic Script. I should be able to extract the
information from VBS, and save it to a text file for processing by a C++
program.


tell applicatoin "Microsoft Powerpoint"
do Visual Basic "{vbs script string}"
end tell

Just gotta make a vbs script that extracts the information I need.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

From what I learned after my first post, AppleScript allows you to launch
PowerPoint, and run a Visual Basic Script. I should be able to extract the
information from VBS, and save it to a text file for processing by a C++
program.

Sounds right, except for one thing: that'd be VBA (Visual Basic for
Applications) not VBS (Visual Basic Script, which is a differerent language and
not one that's supported on the Mac)

tell applicatoin "Microsoft Powerpoint"
do Visual Basic "{vbs script string}"
end tell

Just gotta make a vbs script that extracts the information I need.

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================