Powerpoint and macros

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Errodiel - 15 Dec 2007 10:31 GMT

I've been given a little bit of proof reading/editting work to do of some
teaching aids that have been written in Powerpoint. They're a few years old
so I'm just supposed to go through and check for broken links, etc.

The biggest problem I've encountered so far is that none of the macros work
- nothing at all happens when the links are clicked. I've been through a few
things already:
- The programming for the macros is all physically there (when I go to
'tools --> macro --> macros --> edit' I can see the code). However I don't
know the first thing about macro code, so it could be trash as far as I know.

- The security level should be appropriate ('tools --> macro --> security'
is set to medium).

The only thing I can think of is that the macros may have been written to
run in an older version of powerpoint - I'm running Office 2002, as are most
of the machines that the students will use to do the coursework. Just to
complicate things it may have to run in Office XP too....

So, any ideas? Is there some simple piece of code that I can
edit/insert/delete? Am I going to have to re-write all the macros from
scratch?

Thanks in advance :)

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Bill Dilworth - 15 Dec 2007 16:20 GMT

Without seeing the code, it is hard to tell if it is rubbish. Even seeing
it, without the overview of what was the desired outcome, it is a tad hard
to debug.

I would suggest adding this line of code beneath the Sub xXxXx line (where
xXxXx is the name of the subroutine - in other words, just at the beginning
of each sub-routine)
MsgBox "This sub routine was activated"
and perhaps a note or reference to tell you which sub routine was activated.

If these "You are here" messages do not show up, than the VBA is disabled in
some way, if they do, than the code is working but ineffective.

Signature

Bill Dilworth
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> I've been given a little bit of proof reading/editting work to do of some
> teaching aids that have been written in Powerpoint. They're a few years
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
>
> Thanks in advance :)

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David M. Marcovitz - 17 Dec 2007 15:13 GMT

What Bill said and ...

It is unlikely that the version makes a difference. Most of what works in
older versions continues to work in newer versions. Here are some things
that cause macros to have problems:

(1) Running a presentation in the Viewer or directly from a Web site (it
doesn't sound like this is your problem).

(2) Macro security level not set properly. You mentioned that security
was set to medium. Did you open the file and then set it to medium? The
security setting is checked when the file is opened so changing it after
it is opened will only affect the next time you open the file. Also, if
it is set to medium, then it should have asked you if you want to enable
macros, and you should have said yes. Did it ask?

(3) Running a zipped PowerPoint without expanding first. Macros have
trouble if the PowerPoint file has been zipped. In 2002, you can simply
drag it out of the zipped folder to expand it, and then run it from the
new location.

(4) Weird file names. My super-secret reason for macros not running is if
the file name contains ! (i.e., an exclamation point). If the files are
strangely named (exclamation point is the character I know about, but
there might be others), rename it to something with just letters and
numbers ending in .ppt.

--David

Signature

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/

> Without seeing the code, it is hard to tell if it is rubbish. Even
> seeing it, without the overview of what was the desired outcome, it is
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> disabled in some way, if they do, than the code is working but
> ineffective.

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