Re: [OFF] PowerPoint [was Re: Scripting OS X Mail app]
Re: [OFF] PowerPoint [was Re: Scripting OS X Mail app]
- Subject: Re: [OFF] PowerPoint [was Re: Scripting OS X Mail app]
- From: Arthur J Knapp <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2002 12:00:27 -0500
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Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 13:20:24 -0800
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Subject: Re: [OFF] PowerPoint [was Re: Scripting OS X Mail app]
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From: Paul Berkowitz <email@hidden>
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On 2/1/02 11:36 AM, "Arthur J Knapp" <email@hidden> wrote:
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> Don't upgrade just for the sake of PowerPoint, it is still not scriptable,
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> (there isn't even a lousy "do script" command). One can write a macro, AFTER
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> learning the needlessly complicated Visual Basic language, (because unlike
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> the Windows version, PowerPoint for the Mac still does not record macros).
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> Having written a macro, you have to save it into a presentation file, unlike
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> Word, where you can save to the "normal" template. Having created your
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> macro, you have to run it from inside PowerPoint because, like I said,
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> there isn't even a lousy "do script" command.
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PowerPoint X does indeed now have a 'do Visual Basic' AppleScript command,
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Arthur. It's new - not in PPT 2001. That's all it has for now. It will let
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you do the entire VBA for PPT, as Word does. It would also run an existing
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macro with whatever the VBA command is for running PPT macros, if there is
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one. You don't gain all that much, except you can now run PPT from outside
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itself.
Thanks Paul, I didn't know this. We recently upgraded to Office 2001,
thinking that it would give us better automation support. Man, were we
disappointed.
Before this thread, I had gone to M$'s site to look up documentation on
PowerPoint X, and could find nothing about increased script support,
so I assumed there was no change from PPT 2001.
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... As with all VBA on the Mac, you can call 'MacScript' from within the
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VBA or ...
Yeah, I know about the MacScript command, I'd be lost without it. ;-)
I don't suppose that anyone could show me the "pure" VB way to do
this without the MacScript command, (in a PowerPoint macro):
MacScript( "choose folder" )
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... 'do Visual basic' portion of an applescript to call any other
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scriptable app on your mac. I've got around the limitation of 'do Visual
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Basic' which doesn't return results to the applescript (unlike a nifty
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feature in Excel) by writing results as strings to text files in Temporary
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Items folder from within the 'do Visual basic' command, then reading the
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text file back in the AS. You can do the same here in PPT.
That's clever Paul :)
Thanks again, (unfortunately, it isn't likely that we will be upgrading
to Office X anytime soon).
{ Arthur J. Knapp, of <
http://www.STELLARViSIONs.com>
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try
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on error number -128
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}