How to use automation to create and to show a PowerPoint presentation by using Visual Basic .NET 2002 or Visual Basic .NET 2003

Summary

This article describes how to use automation to create and to show a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation by using Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2002 or Visual Basic .NET 2003.

More Information

Create an automation client for Microsoft PowerPoint

1. Start Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002 or Visual Studio .NET 2003. On the File menu, click New and then click Project. Select Windows Application from the Visual Basic Projects types. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add a reference to the Microsoft PowerPoint Object Library and the Microsoft Graph Object Library. To do this, follow these steps:

   1. On the Project menu, click Add Reference.
   2. On the COM tab, locate the Microsoft PowerPoint Object Library, and then click Select. Also locate the Microsoft Graph Object Library, and then click Select.

   Note Microsoft Office 2003 and later versions of Microsoft Office includes Primary Interop Assemblies (PIAs). Microsoft Office XP does not include PIAs, but they may be downloaded.

3. Click OK in the Add References dialog box to accept your selections.

4. On the View menu, select Toolbox to display the Toolbox and add a button to Form1.

5. Double-click Button1. The code window for the form appears.

6. In the code window, locate the following code

       Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
           ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
   
   End Sub
   
   

   Replace with the following code:

       Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
           ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
   
   Const sTemplate = _
              "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Presentation Designs\Blends.pot"
           Const sPic = "C:\WINNT\Soap Bubbles.bmp"
   
   Dim oApp As PowerPoint.Application
           Dim oPres As PowerPoint.Presentation
           Dim oSlide As PowerPoint.Slide
           Dim bAssistantOn As Boolean
   
   'Start Powerpoint and make its window visible but minimized.
           oApp = New PowerPoint.Application()
           oApp.Visible = True
           oApp.WindowState = PowerPoint.PpWindowState.ppWindowMinimized
   
   'Create a new presentation based on the specified template.
           oPres = oApp.Presentations.Open(sTemplate, , , True)
   
   'Build Slide #1:
           'Add text to the slide, change the font and insert/position a 
           'picture on the first slide.
           oSlide = oPres.Slides.Add(1, PowerPoint.PpSlideLayout.ppLayoutTitleOnly)
           With oSlide.Shapes.Item(1).TextFrame.TextRange
               .Text = "My Sample Presentation"
               .Font.Name = "Comic Sans MS"
               .Font.Size = 48
           End With
           oSlide.Shapes.AddPicture(sPic, False, True, 150, 150, 500, 350)
           oSlide = Nothing
   
   'Build Slide #2:
           'Add text to the slide title, format the text. Also add a chart to the
           'slide and change the chart type to a 3D pie chart.
           oSlide = oPres.Slides.Add(2, PowerPoint.PpSlideLayout.ppLayoutTitleOnly)
           With oSlide.Shapes.Item(1).TextFrame.TextRange
               .Text = "My Chart"
               .Font.Name = "Comic Sans MS"
               .Font.Size = 48
           End With
           Dim oChart As Graph.Chart
           oChart = oSlide.Shapes.AddOLEObject(150, 150, 480, 320, _
                       "MSGraph.Chart.8").OLEFormat.Object
           oChart.ChartType = Graph.XlChartType.xl3DPie
           oChart = Nothing
           oSlide = Nothing
   
   'Build Slide #3:
           'Add a text effect to the slide and apply shadows to the text effect.
           oSlide = oPres.Slides.Add(3, PowerPoint.PpSlideLayout.ppLayoutBlank)
           oSlide.FollowMasterBackground = False
           Dim oShape As PowerPoint.Shape
           oShape = oSlide.Shapes.AddTextEffect(Office.MsoPresetTextEffect.msoTextEffect27, _
               "The End", "Impact", 96, False, False, 230, 200)
           oShape.Shadow.ForeColor.SchemeColor = PowerPoint.PpColorSchemeIndex.ppForeground
           oShape.Shadow.Visible = True
           oShape.Shadow.OffsetX = 3
           oShape.Shadow.OffsetY = 3
           oShape = Nothing
           oSlide = Nothing
   
   'Modify the slide show transition settings for all 3 slides in
           'the presentation.
           Dim SlideIdx(3) As Integer
           SlideIdx(0) = 1
           SlideIdx(1) = 2
           SlideIdx(2) = 3
           With oPres.Slides.Range(SlideIdx).SlideShowTransition
               .AdvanceOnTime = True
               .AdvanceTime = 3
               .EntryEffect = PowerPoint.PpEntryEffect.ppEffectBoxOut
           End With
           Dim oSettings As PowerPoint.SlideShowSettings
           oSettings = oPres.SlideShowSettings
           oSettings.StartingSlide = 1
           oSettings.EndingSlide = 3
   
   'Prevent Office Assistant from displaying alert messages.
           bAssistantOn = oApp.Assistant.On
           oApp.Assistant.On = False
   
   'Run the slide show and wait for the slide show to end.
           oSettings.Run()
           Do While oApp.SlideShowWindows.Count >= 1
               System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents()
           Loop
           oSettings = Nothing
   
   'Reenable Office Assisant, if it was on.
           If bAssistantOn Then
               oApp.Assistant.On = True
               oApp.Assistant.Visible = False
           End If
   
   'Close the presentation without saving changes and quit PowerPoint.
           oPres.Saved = True
           oPres.Close()
           oPres = Nothing
           oApp.Quit()
           oApp = Nothing
           GC.Collect()
       End Sub
   
   

   Note In this code, the sTemplate and sPic constants represent the full path and filename to a PowerPoint template and a picture, respectively. Modify these paths as needed to use a template or picture that is installed on your system.

7. Add the following code to the top of Form1.vb:

   Imports Office = Microsoft.Office.Core
   Imports Graph = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Graph
   Imports PowerPoint = Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint
   

8. Press F5 to build and then run the program.

9. Click Button1 on the form to create and then show a PowerPoint presentation.

References

For more information, see the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site: Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System 2003 Training