luckylara / exporttopptx

MatLab tool for exporting data to PowerPoint 2007+ files without the need COM-object automation.

Overview

exportToPPTX allows user to create PowerPoint 2007+ (PPTX) files without using COM-objects automation (or PowerPoint application itself). Proper XML files are created and packaged into PPTX file that can be read and displayed by PowerPoint.

Note about PowerPoint 2003 and older: To open these PPTX files in older PowerPoint software you will need to get a free office compatibility pack from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3

Usage

Basic command syntax:

exportToPPTX('command',parameters,...)

List of available commands:

exportToPPTX('new',...)

Creates new PowerPoint presentation. Actual PowerPoint files are not written until 'save' command is called. No required inputs. This command does not return any values. Additional options:

• Dimensions Two element vector specifying presentation's width and height in inches. Default size is 10 x 7.5 in.
• Author Specify presentation's author. Default is exportToPPTX.
• Title Specify presentation's title. Default is "Blank".
• Subject Specify presentation's subject line. Default is empty (blank).
• Comments Specify presentation's comments. Default is empty (blank).
• BackgroundColor Three element vector specifying document's background RGB value in the range from 0 to 1. By default background is white.

exportToPPTX('open',filename)

Opens existing PowerPoint presentation. Requires file name of the PowerPoint file to be open. This command does not return any values.

exportToPPTX('addslide',...)

Adds a slide to the presentation. No additional inputs required. Returns newly created slide number. Additional options:

• Position Specify position at which to insert new slide. The value must be between 1 and the total number of slides.
• BackgroundColor Three element vector specifying slide's background RGB value in the range from 0 to 1. By default background is white.
• Master Master layout ID or name. By default first master layout is used. When specifying master name, only as much of the name as ensures unique match has to be used.
• Layout Slide template layout ID or name. By default first slide template layout is used. When specifying layout name, only as much of the name as ensures unique match has to be used.

exportToPPTX('switchslide',slideID)

Switches current slide to be operated on. Requires slide ID as the second input parameter.

exportToPPTX('addpicture',[figureHandle|axesHandle|imageFilename|CDATA],...)

Adds picture to the current slide. Requires figure or axes handle or image filename or CDATA to be supplied. Images supplied as handles or CDATA matrices are saved in PNG format. This command does not return any values. Additional options:

• Scale Controls how image is placed on the slide:
  • noscale - No scaling (place figure as is in the center of the slide or placeholder)
  • maxfixed - Max size while preserving aspect ratio (default)
  • max - Max size with no aspect ratio preservation
• Position Four element vector: x, y, width, height (in inches) or template placeholder ID or name. When exact position is specified Scale property is ignored. Coordinates x=0, y=0 are in the upper left corner of the slide. By default image is sized to the whole slide. When specifying placeholder name, only as much of the name as ensures unique match has to be used.
• LineWidth Width of the picture's edge line, a single value (in points). Edge is not drawn by default. Unless either LineWidth or EdgeColor are specified.
• EdgeColor Color of the picture's edge, a three element vector specifying RGB value. Edge is not drawn by default. Unless either LineWidth or EdgeColor are specified.

exportToPPTX('addtext',textboxText,...)

Adds textbox to the current slide. Requires text of the box to be added. This command does not return any values. Additional options:

• Position Four element vector: x, y, width, height (in inches) or template placeholder ID or name. Coordinates x=0, y=0 are in the upper left corner of the slide. By default textbox is sized to the whole slide. When specifying placeholder name, only as much of the name as ensures unique match has to be used.
• Color Three element vector specifying RGB value in range from 0 to 1. Default text color is black.
• BackgroundColor Three element vector specifying RGB value in the range from 0 to 1. By default background is transparent.
• FontSize Specifies the font size to use for text. Default font size is 12.
• FontName Specifies font name to be used. Default is whatever is template defined font is. Specifying FixedWidth for font name will use monospaced font defined on the system.
• FontWeight Weight of text characters:
  • normal - use regular font (default)
  • bold - use bold font
• FontAngle Character slant:
  • normal - no character slant (default)
  • italic - use slanted font
• Rotation Determines the orientation of the textbox. Specify values of rotation in degrees (positive angles cause counterclockwise rotation).
• HorizontalAlignment Horizontal alignment of text:
  • left - left-aligned text (default)
  • center - centered text
  • right - right-aligned text
• VerticalAlignment Vertical alignment of text:
  • top - top-aligned text (default)
  • middle - align to the middle of the textbox
  • bottom - bottom-aligned text
• LineWidth Width of the textbox's edge line, a single value (in points). Edge is not drawn by default. Unless either LineWidth or EdgeColor are specified.
• EdgeColor Color of the textbox's edge, a three element vector specifying RGB value. Edge is not drawn by default. Unless either LineWidth or EdgeColor are specified.
• OnClick Add "jump to slide number" click action to the textbox. Slide number must be between 1 and maximum number of slides.
• Markdown Boolean to disable markdown processing. Markdown is enabled by default.

exportToPPTX('addnote',noteText,...)

Adds notes information to the current slide. Requires text of the notes to be added. This command does not return any values. Note: repeat calls overwrite previous information. Additional options:

• FontWeight Weight of text characters:
  • normal - use regular font (default)
  • bold - use bold font
• FontAngle Character slant:
  • normal - no character slant (default)
  • italic - use slanted font

exportToPPTX('addshape',xData,yData,...)

Add lines or closed shapes to the current slide. Requires X and Y data to be supplied. This command does not return any values. Additional options:

• ClosedShape Specifies whether the shape is automatically closed or not. Default value is false.
• LineWidth Width of the line, a single value (in points). Default line width is 1 point. Set LineWidth to zero have no edge drawn.
• LineColor Color of the drawn line, a three element vector specifying RGB value. Default color is black.
• LineStyle Style of the drawn line. The following styles are available:
  • • solid line (default)
  • : dotted line
  • -. dash-dot line
  • -- dashed line
• BackgroundColor Shape fill color, a three element vector specifying RGB value. By default shapes are drawn transparent.

exportToPPTX('addtable',tableData,...)

Adds PowerPoint table to the current slide. Requires table content to be supplied in the form of a cell matrix. This command does not return any values. All of the addtext (textbox) additional options apply to the table as well. All of the addtext (textbox) additional options apply to individual table cells as well.

exportToPPTX('save',filename)

Saves current presentation. If PowerPoint was created with 'new' command, then filename to save to is required. If PowerPoint was opened, then by default it will write changes back to the same file. If another filename is provided, then changes will be written to the new file (effectively a 'Save As' operation). Returns full name of the presentation file written.

exportToPPTX('close')

Cleans temporary files and closes current presentation. No additional inputs required. No outputs.

exportToPPTX('saveandclose')

Shortcut to save and close at the same time. No additional inputs required. No outputs.

exportToPPTX('query')

Returns current status either to the command window (if no output arguments) or to the output variable. If no presentation is currently open, returned value is null.

Markdown

Any textual inputs (addtext, addnote) support basic markdown formatting:

• Bulleted lists (lines start with "-" followed by a space)
• Numbered lists (lines start with "#" followed by a space)
• Bolded text (enclosed in "**") Ex. this word is bolded
• Italicized text (enclosed in "*") Ex. this is italics
• Underlined text (enclosed in "_") Ex. this text is underlined
• Markdown characters can be escaped with backslash "\" to be treated literally

Basic Example

Here is a very simple example

% Start new presentation
exportToPPTX('new','Dimensions',[6 6]);

% Just an example image
load mandrill; figure('color','w'); image(X); colormap(map); axis off; axis image;

% Add slide, then add image to it, then add box
exportToPPTX('addslide');
exportToPPTX('addpicture',gcf,'Scale','maxfixed');
exportToPPTX('addtext','Mandrill','Position',[0 5 6 1],'FontWeight','bold','HorizontalAlignment','center','VerticalAlignment','bottom');

% Save and close
exportToPPTX('save','example.pptx');
exportToPPTX('close');

More elaborate examples are included in examples_exportToPPTX.m and examples2_exportToPPTX.m files.

Notes about Templates

In order to use PowerPoint templates with exportToPPTX a basic knowledge of the structure of the template is required. You will need to know master layout name (especially if there are more than one master layout), slide layout names, and placeholder names on each layout slide. There are multiple ways of getting this information.

The easiest way of getting template structure information is to open the presentation in PowerPoint and to look under Layout drop-down menu on the Home tab. Master name will be given at the top of the list. Layout names will be listed under each slide thumbnail. Placeholder names are not easy (if not impossible) to get to from PowerPoint itself. But typically they are named with obvious names such as Title, Content Placeholder, Text Placeholder, etc.

Alternative way of getting template structure information is to open presentation template with exportToPPTX and run query which will list out all available master layouts, slide layouts, and placeholders on each slide layout. Here is an example with the included Parallax.pptx template:

>> exportToPPTX open Parallax
>> exportToPPTX
	File: C:\Stefan\MatLab_Work\exportToPPTX\Parallax.pptx
	Dimensions: 13.33 x 7.50 in
	Slides: 0
	Master #1: Parallax
		Layout #1: Content with Caption (Title 1, Content Placeholder 2, Text Placeholder 3, Date Placeholder 4, Footer Placeholder 5, Slide Number Placeholder 6)
		Layout #2: Name Card (Title 1, Text Placeholder 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)
		Layout #3: Section Header (Title 1, Text Placeholder 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)
		Layout #4: Blank (Date Placeholder 1, Footer Placeholder 2, Slide Number Placeholder 3)
		Layout #5: Quote with Caption (TextBox 13, TextBox 14, Title 1, Text Placeholder 9, Text Placeholder 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)
		Layout #6: Vertical Title and Text (Vertical Title 1, Vertical Text Placeholder 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)
		Layout #7: Title and Content (Title 1, Content Placeholder 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)
		Layout #8: Title and Vertical Text (Title 1, Vertical Text Placeholder 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)
		Layout #9: Title Slide (Freeform 6, Freeform 7, Freeform 9, Freeform 10, Freeform 11, Freeform 12, Title 1, Subtitle 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)
		Layout #10: Title Only (Title 1, Date Placeholder 2, Footer Placeholder 3, Slide Number Placeholder 4)
		Layout #11: Title and Caption (Title 1, Text Placeholder 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)
		Layout #12: Comparison (Title 1, Text Placeholder 2, Content Placeholder 3, Text Placeholder 4, Content Placeholder 5, Date Placeholder 6, Footer Placeholder 7, Slide Number Placeholder 8)
		Layout #13: True or False (Title 1, Text Placeholder 9, Text Placeholder 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)
		Layout #14: Panoramic Picture with Caption (Title 1, Picture Placeholder 2, Text Placeholder 3, Date Placeholder 4, Footer Placeholder 5, Slide Number Placeholder 6)
		Layout #15: Two Content (Title 1, Content Placeholder 2, Content Placeholder 3, Date Placeholder 4, Footer Placeholder 5, Slide Number Placeholder 6)
		Layout #16: Picture with Caption (Title 1, Picture Placeholder 2, Text Placeholder 3, Date Placeholder 4, Footer Placeholder 5, Slide Number Placeholder 6)
		Layout #17: Quote Name Card (TextBox 13, TextBox 14, Title 1, Text Placeholder 9, Text Placeholder 2, Date Placeholder 3, Footer Placeholder 4, Slide Number Placeholder 5)

Once you have all this structure information available it's easy to use templates with exportToPPTX. When creating new slide specify which slide layout you want to use. When adding text, images, or tables to the slide, instead of giving exact position and dimensions of the element, simply pass in the placeholder name.

Here is a another simple example:

% Open presentation template
exportToPPTX('open','Parallax.pptx');

% Add new slide with layout #9 (Title Slide)
exportToPPTX('addslide','Master',1,'Layout','Title Slide');	

% Add title text and subtitle text
exportToPPTX('addtext','Example Presentation','Position','Title'); 
exportToPPTX('addtext','Created with exportToPPTX','Position','Subtitle');

% Save as another presentation and close
exportToPPTX('save','example2');
exportToPPTX('close');

Parallax.pptx, included with this tool, is one of the default PowerPoint templates distributed with Microsoft Office 2013.