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Hello World with PowerPointTemplate

INTRO

Setting up the template file

1. Create a new .PPTX file. Save it as Hello World.pptx.

2. We are going to bind a single string value to a cell slide in a template file. To do this, we will first need to add a data marker to the cell slide where we want the value to appear.

All PowerPointWriter data markers follow the syntax %%=DataSourceName.ColumnName. 'In this example, we will use the data marker %%=DataSource1.DataValue ' is to import the data marker ID we'll use to bind the data to this data markerinto the presentation. For more information on data markers see How to use Data Markers.

Below is a screenshot of the completed template file from the Hello World sample:

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3. Now the template file is done. Next is writing the code to bind the string value to the data marker.

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1. Include the SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.PowerPoint namespace in the code behind.

using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.PowerPointWriter;

2. Instantiate the PowerPointTemplate object.

PowerPointTemplate PPTT = new PowerPointTemplate();

3. Open the template file with PowerPointTemplate.Open.
The PowerPointTemplate object corresponds to a single template file, so a given PowerPointTemplate instance can only have one template file open.

PPTT.Open(Page.MapPath("templates\\Hello World.pptx"));

4. Create a DataBindingProperties object

DataBindingProperties DataProps = PPTT.CreateDataBindingProperties();

The DataBindingProperties object can be used to change the behavior of how data is imported. For example, if we were importing multiple rows of data, we can use the DataBindingProperties.MaxRowsPerSlide property to limit the number of rows that are imported. In this sample, we won't be changing any of the import properties, but we still need the DataBindingProperties object to bind data.

5. Get the data and create 2 arrays to hold the values and column names of the data you are importing.The column names should match the name of your data marker.

string value = DataValueBox.Text.Trim();
string[] values = { value };
string[] colNames = { "DataValue" };

Dim value As String = DataValueBox.Text.Trim()
Dim values = New String() { value };
Dim colNames = New String() { "DataValue" };

6. Call PowerPointTemplate.BindData() to bind the data to the data marker. The data source name should match the value in your data marker.

PPTT.BindData(values, colnames, "DataSource1", DataProps);

Note that we need to pass the DataBindingProperties object, even though none of the DataBindingProperties are active.

7. Call PowerPointTemplate.Process() to insert the data into the file

PPTT.Process();

PowerPointTemplate.Process() handles everything relating to inserting the data into the file.

8. Save the output

PPTT.Save(Page.Response, "Output.pptx", false);

There are several options for PowerPointTemplate.Save including: save to disk, save to memory stream, stream back to the client inline, and stream back to the client as an attachment. In this case, we're streaming the workbook presentation back to the client as an attachment.
Also, ExcelWriter PowerPointWriter does not convert between file formats, so it is important that the file extension on the output file matches the file extension of the original template file.

9. Go to the web form page, PowerPointTemplate_HelloWorld.aspx, to try out the sample. In the output file, you will see that the data marker has been replaced with the custom text entered in the form.

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Congratulations, you have completed Hello World for PowerPointTemplate!

Final Code

using SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.PowerPointWriter;
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PowerPointTemplate PPTT = new PowerPointTemplate();
PPTT.Open(Page.MapPath("Hello World.pptx"));
DataBindingProperties DataProps = PPTT.CreateDataBindingProperties();
string value = DataValueBox.Text.Trim();
string[] values = { value };
string[] colNames = { "DataValue" };
PPTT.SetDataSourceBindData(values, colNames, "DataSource1", DataProps);
PPTT.Process();
PPTT.Save(Page.Response, "Output.pptx", false);

Imports SoftArtisans.OfficeWriter.PowerPointWriter
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Dim PPTT As New PowerPointTemplate()
PPTT.Open(Page.MapPath("templates\Hello World.pptx"))
Dim DataProps As DataBindingProperties = PPTT.CreateDataBindingProperties()
Dim value As String = DataValueBox.Text.Trim()
Dim values() As String = New String() { values }
Dim colNames = New String() { "DataValue" }
PPTT.SetDataSource(values, colNames, "DataSource1", DataProps)
PPTT.Process()
PPTT.Save(Page.Response, "Output.pptx", False)

Downloads

You can download the code for the hello world tutorial as a Visual Studio solution.

• PowerPointWriter_HelloWorldC#.zip
• PowerPointWriter_HelloWorldVB.zip