How to use Data Markers

Introduction

This guide will explain the syntax and naming conventions of PowerPointWriter data markers, as well as data marker modifiers which can change how data is imported.

Introduction
Definition
Sytax
Modifiers
- List of Modifiers

Definition

A data marker is a string used as a placeholder for data that will be imported by PowerPointWriter's PowerPointTemplate object. Each data marker corresponds to a column in a data source. The data markers are added to the template in PowerPoint and then populated at run time using PowerPointTemplate.

Sytax

Basic Syntax

Data markers use the following syntax: %%=DataSourceName.ColumnName

DataSourceName is the name of the data source. This name is specified in code when the PowerPointTemplate.BindData method is called.
ColumnName is the name of the column that contains the value(s) to be imported. The column name must match the columns specified in code.

For more information on the types of data sources supported by PowerPointWriter and how to bind data to a template, see Importing a Single Row of Data and Importing Multiple Rows of Data.

Allowed Characters

Additionally, the data source name and the column name must follow these rules:

Data source and column names must not include Unicode characters
Data source and column names must begin with a letter (A-Z, a-z).
Data source and column names may include the following characters only:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890
Spaces are not allowed anywhere in a data marker

Ordinal Syntax

Data markers can also be defined using *ordinal syntax*, which allows you to specify the data source and column names using numbers. This gives you flexibility if you don't know the names of your data columns or if you want to generalize a template.

Ordinal syntax is as follows: %%=<DataSourceNumber>.<ColNumber> where:

DataSourceNumber is a 1-based number that is determined by the order of the BindData method calls in the code. For example, %%=#2.#7 refers to the data source associated with the second call to BindData.
ColNumber is a 1-based number that is determined by the order of the columns in the data source. For example, %%=#2.#7 refers to the 7th column in the second data source defined in the code.

Ordinal syntax can be used with regular syntax:

%%=DataSource.#2
%%=#3.ColName

See the fieldname modifier below for more about importing column names with ordinal syntax.

Modifiers

Modifiers can effect how data is imported into the template file. Modifiers use the following syntax: %%=DataSourceName.ColumnName(modifier).

List of Modifiers

Modifier	Behavior	Additional References
Continue	The continue modifier allows data to be imported onto multiple slides in a presentation. Set DataBindingProperties.MaxRowsPerSlide to limit the number of rows that can be imported on a slide and then use the continue modifier to continue importing the additional rows.	Fitting Data on to Multiple Slides
Image	The image modifier is used to import an image into a presentation. The image modifier has parameters that can control the dimensions and aspect ratio settings of the imported image.	Importing Images
Fieldname	The fieldname modifier will import the column name from the data source, rather than the actual data. Use with ordinal syntax to dynamically import column names.	See ordinal syntax above.

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