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MS Office Forum / General PowerPoint Questions / September 2007Extending objects with custom properties
Hi, First up, thanks to everyone who has responded to my various odball questions :-D Anyway, is it possible to add your own properties to displayed objects and therefore extend them? Even better are the objects (like a text box) essentially OOP classes that can be sub-classed? If so, how do I do this and how do I extend the properties editor to allow me to enter the extra stuff? Background: I'm a teacher and I'm trying to create an easy to use timer (count down/up) to use on slides to time exercises, breaks, wasted time etc etc. TIA Paul Can't help you with the technical stuff but if you're looking for an easy count-down timer, go to http://www.mattjfuller.com/training.htm. You can insert any of the timers as a movie. > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Paul Thanks for that :-) These may well be useful as a stop-gap, but infortunately I need something a little more customizable (not least in that I'm not timing breaks, but exercises and so on!) Thanks again for taking the time to respond. > Can't help you with the technical stuff but if you're looking for an easy > count-down timer, go to http://www.mattjfuller.com/training.htm. You can [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > > > Paul > First up, thanks to everyone who has responded to my various odball > questions :-D Fun stuff. Keep it coming. > Anyway, is it possible to add your own properties to displayed objects and > therefore extend them? Even better are the objects (like a text box) > essentially OOP classes that can be sub-classed? If so, how do I do this and > how do I extend the properties editor to allow me to enter the extra stuff? Not that I'm aware of, but you can add tags to any shape, slide or presentation, then your own code can do whatever it needs to with that information. > Background: > I'm a teacher and I'm trying to create an easy to use timer (count down/up) [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Paul ----------------------------------------- Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com PPTools: www.pptools.com ================================================ > > First up, thanks to everyone who has responded to my various odball > > questions :-D > > Fun stuff. Keep it coming. Ok, you asked for it! ;-) > > Anyway, is it possible to add your own properties to displayed objects and > > therefore extend them? Even better are the objects (like a text box) [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > presentation, then your own code can do whatever it needs to with that > information. Sounds promising. How do I do that? TIA > > > Anyway, is it possible to add your own properties to displayed objects and > > > therefore extend them? Even better are the objects (like a text box) [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Sounds promising. How do I do that? Tags? Easy: Assuming you've got a reference to the shape, slide or presentation in oSomeVar, to set a tag: oSomeVar.Tags.Add Name:="MyTagName", Value:="MyTagValue" For example: oSomeVar.Tags.Add Name:="LifeTheUniverseEverything", Value:="42" or If oSomeVar.Tags("LifeTheUniverseEverything") = "42" Then MsgBox("I'm SO tired. And there's this pain in all the diodes...") End If You can have as many tags per item as you like, for all practical purposes, and each can contain a LOT of text. ----------------------------------------- Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com PPTools: www.pptools.com ================================================ > > Sounds promising. How do I do that? > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > You can have as many tags per item as you like, for all practical purposes, and > each can contain a LOT of text. Uhhh ok - that looks like we're getting somewhere :-) I'll have a play and then, no doubt (in the words of Arnie) I'll Be Back ;-) Thanks again! Ok, I've seen various add-ins that suggest a custom object (or at least a standard object with additional tags) is being created. This usually involves something added to the "insert" menu, although I'll bet you can add it to the toolbox as well. What I want to do is the following:- Allow the user to create an object called a timer. This object will basically be a text box, but with two differences.. 1) When it is created it will auomatically have a couple of additional properties (held in tags) so a dialog will need to come up to allow the user to enter these (these will be the time for the timer, whether it should start automatically or wait to be clicked and whether to advance to the next slide once the timer runs out). 2) It needs to have an "on click" action already defined which I will then trap when the show is running in order to start (and / or pause) the timer. I would also like to trap either a double-click or a right-click or a shoft-click in order to allow the user to alter the time during the presentation. I might do this, however, by adding something to the context enu whenever a slide shows with a timer on ot. Now I have managed to trap the right-mouse click in the editing window, and then checked to see if I'm on a text box or not. This might work since my user could then crate a normal text box and then right click on it and select an option to convert the box to a timer (or edit it if it already is one!). This kind of works, but I can't figure out how to add the action to the box from the event handler. Can anyone offer any advice on this? BTW, once I get this working, I intend to make it available to others - a flexible timer would be invaluable to a lot of people. Many thanks (again!), Paul > > > Not that I'm aware of, but you can add tags to any shape, slide or > > > presentation, then your own code can do whatever it needs to with that [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > PPTools: www.pptools.com > ================================================ > Ok, I've seen various add-ins that suggest a custom object (or at least a > standard object with additional tags) is being created. This usually involves [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > automatically or wait to be clicked and whether to advance to the next slide > once the timer runs out). Starting thought: create an add-in with event handler and a menu. Click "Add timer" on the menu and it creates a shape of the type and size you want and pops a dialog so the user can fill in the needed info. Then instead of getting too fancy with the editing, maybe just another item on the menu .. Edit Timer. If the user selects one of your objects, clicking this brings up the edit dialog. Otherwise it tells the user to select a timer object first. You could get fancier and check each shape on the slide to see if it's one of yours and if there's only one, pull that up automatically when the user hasn't selected it. > 2) It needs to have an "on click" action already defined which I will then > trap when the show is running in order to start (and / or pause) the timer. I > would also like to trap either a double-click or a right-click or a > shoft-click in order to allow the user to alter the time during the > presentation. OnClick shouldn't be hard (assign it a Run Macro action setting and have the macro run whatever code you need it to (out of your add-in). The macro could detect whether or not a shift/alt/ctrl key is depressed and give you add'l options that way. Or trapping the rightclick as you describe ... >I might do this, however, by adding something to the context > enu whenever a slide shows with a timer on ot. [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > > PPTools: www.pptools.com > > ================================================ ----------------------------------------- Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com PPTools: www.pptools.com ================================================ > > 1) When it is created it will auomatically have a couple of additional > > properties (held in tags) so a dialog will need to come up to allow the user [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > fancier and check each shape on the slide to see if it's one of yours and if there's > only one, pull that up automatically when the user hasn't selected it. Ok, that seems reasonable, I guess I was thinking I needed the user to "draw" on the page (like when you create a text box) but there isn't any reason why they can't re-size and move it afterwards (and reformat it). Thanks for the inspiration! > > 2) It needs to have an "on click" action already defined which I will then > > trap when the show is running in order to start (and / or pause) the timer. I [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > whatever code you need it to (out of your add-in). The macro could detect whether or > not a shift/alt/ctrl key is depressed and give you add'l options that way. Sorry to be a pain, but I haven't been able to find how to programmatically set this - can you point me in the right direction? What is the object property actually called (as I obviously don't want the user to have to set this up themselves ;-) Thanks again for all your input on this (and my other threads!!!!) Paul > > > 1) When it is created it will auomatically have a couple of additional > > > properties (held in tags) so a dialog will need to come up to allow the user [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > property actually called (as I obviously don't want the user to have to set > this up themselves ;-) You won't do yourself damage if I tell you that you can use the Macro Recorder to grab the code for this? <g> Sub SetAction(oSh As Shape) With oSh.ActionSettings(ppMouseClick) .Run = "MacroName" .Action = ppActionRunMacro .SoundEffect.Type = ppSoundNone .AnimateAction = msoFalse End With End Sub Google around GetAsyncKeyState to find a way to detect ctrl/alt/other keys. I don't have any examples I'm free to publish, I'm afraid. > Thanks again for all your input on this (and my other threads!!!!) > > Paul ----------------------------------------- Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com PPTools: www.pptools.com ================================================
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