OK, so I’m a fairly avid and able VBA user, especially in Excel and Access. I even have added some snippets of code to Word and Outlook in my days (although the necessity is less than in Excel/Acess).
HOWEVER, the use of VBA in Powerpoint has utterly escaped me. I simply cannot see a suitable use for it. I would love to implement some VBA code into a Powerpoint document to improve it - however, in my wildest imagination I cannot figure out how the presentations would improve!
So, what do you use VBA for in Powerpoint? Ideas, suggestions, hints, anything appreciated.
But seriously, it seems to mainly be used to add interactivity to a presentation. Here’s a list I found from one site:
[ul]
[li]User inputs a name, which is used in feedback.[/li][li]User answers some questions and is given feedback as to the number of correct answers.[/li][li]Objects are added to slides.[/li][li]Text is added to or modified on slides.[/li][li]Text colour, font, size, or style is modified.[/li][/ul]
If you search for something like “vba powerpoint examples” you can find a lot of examples. Most of them are fairly useless.
That’s actually a good point that I hadn’t thought about. Very simple idea (“interactivity”) but I guess it could be used to produce some interesting stuff.
Yep, that was my point too, I have searched the web for pointers and useful applications but I couldn’t find much.
(Maybe I should just give it a rest and leave those powerpoints static and boring…)
We currently use Powerpoint to display the words for worship songs at the church I attend; it’s OK, but the PP presentations (a separate one for each song title) aren’t easily searchable(sometimes the song will be asked for by some other words than the title or first line of the first verse) and if the music group decides to repeat a verse, it looks messy paging back up to the beginning. Also, the transition from one song to the next isn’t always easy to manage if the format or running order is fluid.
I’m looking at using a combination of Access and Powerpoint, so the operator has a form on monitor 1 that allows him to fully control the current presentation (displayed on monitor 2) at the same time as being able to search the song database, cue up the next song, etc…
The other thing I used (a tiny bit of) VBA for once was to implement an auto-refresh of the displayed page - the Powerpoint presentation was the scoreboard for a general knowledge quiz (displayed on monitor 2), linked to data in an Excel spreadsheet (edited on monitor 1)
Our church uses an application called SongPro (http://creationsoftware.com/) which works really well and seems easy enough to use (I have managed to avoid getting involved in that side of church life :)) - costs a bit, but might be worth a look. There is a downloadable evaluation copy…
Well, there’s a powerpoint ‘employee satisfaction questionnaire’ which was making the rounds a while ago that was kinda funny in a sick way.
It used VBA to flick a particular button around the screen in such a way that it was almost impossible to click it… the ‘yes’ button to “Do you want a pay raise” or something like that.
Once, for a school project, I used PowerPoint and VBA to make a Jeopardy!-like quiz game.
The script basically kept track of which questions had already been picked and disabled them. It might’ve had other minor interactive components too (like keeping score), but it was too long ago and I don’t remember.
Considering it was just a stupid 8th-grade project, it was either overkill or terribly inefficient – I’m not sure which – but it was the only way I knew how to make something like that at the time. PowerPoint made the graphics and layout easy (if ugly) and VBA handled the backend.
I used regular PowerPoint ideas and VBA, along with tutorials from other websites, to create scoreboards for many different sports. I haven’t uploaded all of them, but take a look at the baseball scoreboard from my website, greatpptgames.weebly.com. There’s a Jeopardy! scorekeeper and all kinds of regular PowerPoint games.
Good luck! The possibilities are pretty much endless.