Re: Managing a PPT project judiciously

Hi Brian,

Thanks for highly thoughtful inputs. Very much appreciated.

>Then if I want to get a data file it is just activeworkbook.path & "\" &
>variablefilename to get to the correct file.
This is something which I havent done. Main reason might be am not very
comfortable with the activeworkbook.path. May be I fear that the if the
relative position of active workbook with respect to other folders is
changed (due to some reason) then it might trouble me. Would definitely try
to overcome the same.

> The above raises the important question of where are you going to do
> most of the work? In Excel or in PPT?

Yes, I m going to use excel macros to transfer data to PPT (many courtesies
to Jon P and the unsung heroe/ines of Excel and PPT NG's) and position it. I
would use PPT macros only for very small proportion.

> Then I will have various other folders to store stuff and keep it neat,
> e.g. application\data and application\FinishedPresentations and
I have started working on folders but definitely should do a little better
work on the same. Have given only cursory thoughts to the same.

> Now managing all these different presentations is simply a collation task
> that can be made easy by maintaining lists in Excel.
>
> If you structure it like this you could end up with two short routines
> and just loop forever. One routine to copy the rngXLtoPPT and one

I have started with an Excel list in somewhat similar lines. But certainly
the way you put this list in to use is much too productive (!!) or rather
sophisticated for me. I am maintain this list (type of each object, Slide
number, unique object name (thnx to Shyam P), coordinates of PPT location
where object will go, Comments for myself and my colleagues who will be
providing input data etc.).

But, as of now I have used this list only to get clarity on the enormity (!)
of the task and MOST importantly to Communicate with people who provide me
with data without me verbally telling them as to what kind of data is needed
to be put in which folder. (I term it as Virtual communication). I would use
some of the list data but never thought (or rather could muster courage)
that 2 routines would be enough. Probably thats why I was cribbing about
parameter passing in my original post.

> Another useful technique if you are replacing updated data in an existing
> presentation (rather than creating new) is to use either shape names or
> shape tags to identify objects. then you can just

I had quite engaging sessions on object names from some of the veterans of
this group. Thats why I did include the object name as part of my excel
list. But I think my way of just using that object name to get a handle on
that object name within PPT slide is naive at best. As you guessed in many
case I would be updating data and certainly makes sense to iterate through
all shapes and delete unwanted ones. Your idea of shape tags is certainly
new to me. How different is it from object names. What additional
functionality does it offer. (I did see a sub in your site some time back
named iterate_through_all_shapes but failed to appreciate it).

> Let me know if you want to continue this discussion. It is quite
> appropriate to do here in the PPT newsgroup.
Any words of wisdom is always game to me.

Thanks a ton for the time you devoted.

Regards,
Hari
India


"Brian Reilly, MS MVP" <Brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:hg2tc11q397rnu03lvbnsfue1u3vc43nbm@xxxxxxxxxx
> Hari,
> I've done a number of large projects like this and can suggest two
> approaches. The second one is still in development but the first one
> has worked flawlessly for me for literally millions of pages in PPT.
>
> First, folder structure is critical as you point out. I typicallly has
> a toplevel folder that I will for sake of discussion call Application.
> Then I will have various other folders to store stuff and keep it
> neat, e.g. application\data and application\FinishedPresentations and
> maybe even application\artwork. As long as I create this same
> structure on every machine and I do that just simply by copying the
> application folder and all subfolders to each machine, then I just use
> activeworkbook.path to get the path to the top folder (or
> activepresentation.path if in PPT). Then if I want to get a data file
> it is just activeworkbook.path & "\" & variablefilename to get to the
> correct file.
>
> The above raises the important question of where are you going to do
> most of the work? In Excel or in PPT? I know the result is a PPT
> presentation but it might be easier to use the structure of Excel to
> make your life easier and run the application from there. I usually
> do.
>
> Now managing all these different presentations is simply a collation
> task that can be made easy by maintaining lists in Excel. The list
> would start in Row1 Column1 and have the Title of the Project
> (presentation/topic/whatever)e.g. Class1. Then the rows below it would
> have a list of each individual page in the order you want to collate
> them in the presentation. After you do a Find in Row 1 matching the
> Project you chose from a listbox or combobox you can just use that
> reference and use the offset method to get the variable name to deal
> with that page (.offset(i,0).value) in a For i = 1 to the row that
> contains the last value in that presentation found by
> MsgBox Range("A65256").End(xlUp).Row to get the number of entries in
> that column.
>
> I typically use the sheet name for the page name and usually have a
> sheet level range name that is the same name on each sheet, e.g.
> rngXLtoPPT
>
> If you structure it like this you could end up with two short routines
> and just loop forever. One routine to copy the rngXLtoPPT and one
> routine to paste and position the object (for that matter you could
> combine these although I usually don't since I like to copy and paste
> routines that work from one project to the next with little or no
> modification.
>
> Another useful technique if you are replacing updated data in an
> existing presentation (rather than creating new) is to use either
> shape names or shape tags to identify objects. then you can just
> iterate through the shapes on a page to see if they have the correct
> name or tag and delete it. Then paste the new data and name it or tag
> it so you can find it and delete it the next time.
>
> Let me know if you want to continue this discussion. It is quite
> appropriate to do here in the PPT newsgroup.
>
> Warmest regards,
>
> Brian Reilly, PowerPoint MVP
>
>
>
> On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 15:15:56 +0530, "Hari Prasadh"
> <excel_hariNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>Not related to PPT (its about how to MANAGE huge PPT projects) as such but
>>didnt know where else to post.
>>
>>I have to automate a huge series of PPT reports like X number of Class 1
>>kind of reports having lets say Y slides and then Z number of Class 2 kind
>>of reports having lets say W slides each and Class 3, Class 4 and so on
>>and
>>on.
>>
>>The numbers X, Y, Z, W and so on and on are quite considerable.
>>
>>a. Within a particular class like lets say Class1 the structure (layout
>>and
>>kind/type of objects) of slides (INTRA class comparison - Slide 1 of PPT1
>>=
>>Slide1 of PPT2 , Slide2 of PPT1 = Slide2 of PPT2 and so on) would be
>>85-90%
>>SAME.
>>b. Some of the reports within Class 1 might have some EXTRA slides in the
>>middle of the presentation. Like if there are 100 slides in PPT1 there
>>might
>>be 110 in PPT2 so Slide1 to Slide 73 of PPT1 would be equal in layout to
>>Slide 1 to slide 73 of PPT2, but Slide 74 is an extra slide in PPT2. So,
>>Slide 74 in PPT1 would be equal to Slide 75 of PPT2 and the pattern would
>>continue with intermittent addition of slides in either of PPT1 or PPT2.
>>c. Having said that within a particular PPT, Slide1 layout/objects is not
>>equal to Slide2 layout/objects and so on.
>>d All the data resides in Excel (TONS of Excel files I believe) and it
>>would have to be pasted in PPT in OLE -- editable -- form (as a Excel
>>sheet/Chart/MS Applet Graph).
>>
>>There will be a series of different macro calls with changes in parameter
>>(Considering the quantum of project, parameter passing itself is one big
>>headache and a good candidate for effective PM aka Parameter Management).
>>
>>I have pondered a little on how I will be executing it. One stuff I
>>thought
>>of is that since I would be running macros on different computers and
>>different computers will have different Paths for storing Input Excel data
>>so I needed to give user (user is myself - would be running the macros
>>parallely in many computers) the ability to change path (Hard-coded paths
>>wont work). Also, standard input boxes for changing paths wont work
>>because
>>considering the number of objects in which data is to be populated user
>>cant
>>keep on writing/specifying paths during macro execution. So, I split up
>>path names in to one Soft-path and second Hard-path and stored both of
>>them
>>in an excel sheet.
>>
>>Soft-path is something like - C:\Documents and Settings\Hari\Project
>>Name\ -
>>This part of the path is same for all objects in all slides within all
>>CLASS
>>of reports.
>>
>>Hard-path for a specific object's data folder - Class1\MRAUTE1\2005\ --
>>The
>>Hard path will change depending on the object, class and year. (I have
>>give
>>unique names to each object and created separate folders for them like
>>MRAUTE1 above.)
>>
>>So, if we move to a different computer then I would have to change only
>>the
>>soft-path (a single cell in a global excel file has to be changed and it
>>will adjust paths for all objects). Again when we move to a different
>>computer I would paste my data in such a way that it matches the folder
>>structure as specified in the hard path of my excel file.
>>
>>New computer:-
>>Soft-path:- C:\Documents and Settings\Incognito\Project Name\
>>Hard-Path: - Class1\MRAUTE1\2005\
>>
>>
>>My boss suggested that for better project mgmt it would be helpful if I
>>create different folders for different slides within each class of report.
>>So, the present hard-path could be changed to Class1\Slide1\MRAUTE1\2005\
>>for an object named MRAUTE1 within Slide1 of Class1 report and again for
>>object named YUERTW1 in Slide2 of Class1 it would be like
>>Class1\Slide2\YUERTW1\2005\ and so on and on.
>>
>>Initially I thought that it would be a great idea as it would have been
>>broken in to manageable chunks. But.... in light of point b) above it
>>causes
>>some NEW problems. As mentioned slide1 to slide 73 are equal within a
>>particular class of reports, but slide 74 might be different in some PPT's
>>within that Class and same for future slides.
>>
>>So, when am passing parameters I would get in to deep problems. Say I
>>instruct my macro -- Go and fetch data for object named as "PRAEED42" in
>>slide 74 for PPT1 in Class1 from the Hard-path--
>>Class1\Slide74\PRAEED42\2005\. But slide 74 for PPT2 in Class1 there might
>>be no object named "PRAEED42". On the other hand it is in slide 75 of PPT2
>>we find an object named PRAEED42" (slide 75 of PPT2 is equivalent to slide
>>74 of PPT1).
>>
>>In all if I make different folders for different slides Project mgmt might
>>seem to be better but parameter management would become EVEN more tedious.
>>Any thoughts?
>>
>>Would be grateful if I could get some guidelines/ideas on how to MANAGE
>>(strategic/tactical) things specifically in PPT automation.
>>
>>Thanks a lot,
>>Hari
>>India
>>
>


.

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