Name a Power Point slide to reference in code - not slide number

[mross01]

I create presentations from individual slides and I want to be able to
reference a slide by name (in code) instead of a slide number is there way to
do this.

I am trying to create help context (custom pane) specific to a Power Point
slide and I will not know the order the slides are in. Example: Another
user pulls slides from a collection of prebuilt slides and I want to offer
help in the Custom Help Pane for that Slide. If I had an ID I could use, I
would be able to pull that help context from a XML file (or whatever format)
for that slide and present it to the user.

Any suggestions?

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

Example 8.7 on my site has procedures for naming shapes and slides:

http://www.PowerfulPowerPoint.com/

Click on "Examples by Chapter" and "Chapter 8."

--David

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

 

[mross01]

I need to name the template slide when the slide is created, by the user.
Then I need to use that name in code to retrieve other files associated with
that ID.

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

Is the user creating a slide via automation or via standard PowerPoint?
If it is via automation, you can always set the slide's Name property. If
they are using standard PowerPoint, either the user will have to use the
macro (probably not a good plan), or you will have to have some kind of
an add-in loaded on the user's machine that does some naming
automatically.
--David

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

 

[mross01]

The users create slides that are saved on a server. We have a program (third
party) that asks questions and then combines the slides into one presentation
based on answers given. Once that presentation is created it is downloaded
for customization. Once the user is customizing it I need to be able to know
what slide they are on and go pull content files for customizing the Help
Pane.

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

So it seems to me that the name would take place automatically in the
third-party software that combines the slides. Is that a possibility?
--David

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

 

[mross01]

No that would not be, but that wouldnt help me anyway. The content files
will have to be created with something I can map the original slide ID back
to. If the ID was created on the fly I would not be able to link to the
content files. I need the users (the slide creaters) to be able to apply a
name to the slide at creation time. I was hoping there was some setting
somewhere in Power Point that I can not find that would allow them to do so.

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

There are file properties that the user can manipulate easily, but I
think that anything that involves naming a slide has to be done with a
macro. As long as you could get all the users to load an add-in, you
could put the macro in an add-in and make it relatively easy for the
users to do.
--David

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

 

[mross01]

Would that property be static at that point. Meaning they create the slide
and save it. Then when the third party program was to pull the slides the
name would still be there for me to reference. There is no continuation of
the process meaning all programming state is lost.

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

Yes, the slide's .Name property should hang around after the programming
is done.
--David

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

 

[mross01]

Interesting. Wonder why MS does not have that as a property for the slide
that the user can set without having to use a macro. Do you know if that
setting may be in 2007?

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

Sorry, I haven't ventured into 2007 beta testing (no access to a spare
machine and no access to that much spare time). Maybe someone else can
answer about 2007.
--David

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