Is there any good way to use a windows application written in C# to display/control a powerpoint slideshow? Ultimately I would like to show thumbnails in a form and clicking these thumbnails would advance the slides shown on a second monitor (similar to using Powerpoint itself to show a slideshow on a second monitor).
I would like to be able to use Powerpoint Viewer if Powerpoint is not installed.
There seems to be some ActiveX-controls that allows integration of Powerpoint in a form, but most of these seem to cost money, does anyone have experience using one of these controls?
Edit: I know that there is an object model accessable by adding a reference to Microsoft.Office.InterOp.Powerpoint, but I want to be able to distribute the resulting program without having Microsoft Office as a prerequisite, that was why I mentioned Powerpoint Viewer because it can be distributed freely.
This kb lays out the basics for working with the powerpoint presentation viewer object model. I'd suggest you include the viewer when you distribute your application.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/265385
Once you get a reference to the viewer (top level) object it is basically the same as working with the powerpoint.presentation object model, but with less functionality (i.e. editing, etc)
If you are working with Powerpoint 2007, then you can add editing functionality by using the System.XML and related namespaces to work with the presentation file as an open xml file.
Regarding the comments about UNO/openoffice.org, I think these miss the point, as you cannot use UNO for working with powerpoint, it is for openoffice and that was not the origianl requirement of the questioner.
there are 3rd party toolsets like aspose, but then your goal was to work with the powerpoint viewer component (free) so I'm guessing you want to avoid paying for dev tools? Either way viewer components OM is perfectly suitable for displaying and previewing and existing slide show. (you will need one copy of Powerpoint so that you can author the presentation from scratch, plus Visual Studio to create the VSTO project).
One of our softwares here at work does that. Initially we used MS Office but recently we switched to use OpenOffice.org Uno since it offers better control than MS Office and is easier to work with. It has .NET CLI-bindings.
To answer your question, yes it can be done but our engineers would recommend you use OpenOffice.org instead.
Just like with Microsoft Excel and Word, Powerpoint has an Object Model that you can access in code by including a reference in your project to:
Microsoft.Office.InterOp.Powerpoint.
I've used the Excel and Word models, but haven't used the one for Powerpoint. You can get a little taste of what's available by opening up the Object Browser once you've included the reference to see what kind of functionality is available. This might be a viable solution for you if you don't want to use a 3rd party tool to access the object model.
I have used the Word toolkit from Aspose -- they have a Powerpoint toolkit too that I think would be worth looking at.
http://www.aspose.com/categories/file-format-components/aspose.slides-for-.net-and-java/default.aspx
Related
I read this interesting article by Microsoft. I learned that a Visio file is nothing more than a Zip file containing XML with all the information about the graph.
Playing around with the code from the same article I managed to explore a Visio file, getting XML nodes for the shapes I'm interested in, for example.
My purpose is to draw the graph itself! But my primary constraint is that the application must not rely on Visio installed in the client. So I should write pure C# to render the graph, or reference some DLLs that help me to draw the graph without having Visio installed.
On the same article, at the bottom of the page, there is a link to something called pkgVisio. A VB project that can explore and display the graph. The problem with that project is 1) It's in VB! 2) It references several DLLs that I don't know and that I don't know where to get from (AxMicrosoft.Office.Interop.VisOcx, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio, Microsoft.Office.Interop.VisOcx, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.Logging)
I am looking for a way to develop a program that can render a Visio file, or, if exists, a simple project that does the same thing.
Any hint or help will be really appreciated,
thank you
I think if you have a real-world diagram, this task is more or less hopeless. Although Visio vsdx file is composed of XML files which are plain text, inside those XML files there are formulas. The problem is not reading XML file, the problem is building a rendering engine, which is in fact a "giant calculator", as has been noticed once by one of Visio creators. Means, as a rule, you won't actually find the coordinates of shapes to render inside those XML files, but rather the rules to calculate those coordinates.
So my recommendation would be: forget it or use the commercial package if you want to render Visio diagrams without Visio
The mentioned libraries are:
VisOcx - this is Visio drawing control, it is only installed together with Visio itself. Basically this is ActiveX wrapper control for embedding Visio into your application.
EnterpriseLibrary - This is the Microsoft Enterprise Library
First of all I want to say hi to the programming community, what I am looking for is a way to generate a report from my Windows Forms Application in word preferably, this report is basically a list of pre-configured days in a tour creation software I am creating.
I have searched everywhere and I cant seem to find information on how to start creating the report, I have all the information saved into a database, I just need to be able to get this information into word and ordered as it should be ordered.
I just want to be pointed in the right direction so I can research on it even further.
The exact thing I want to create is a word file that I wish I could share here so you can actually see what I mean.
Thank you for all your attention and help if possible.
I can point you in the right direction. Word documents are stored in a format called OpenXml which can be created and manipulated without actually using Word directly. That's good because you don't want to deal with code that actually starts an instance of Word and automates it (Interop.) It sort of works but it's not something I recommend dealing with ever.
OpenXml isn't fun either, but it's better. You can create your document "normally" using Word, save it, and then have your application use it as a template, opening a copy, populating some data, and then saving it.
Here's the reference for OpenXml with Word. I'm not saying it's pretty. It's not. The documentation is lacking. This page on adding text isn't linked from the previous page, even though many other topics are.
There are some nuget packages like this one that can help.
I once did a POC that did exactly what you're describing by opening and altering a document used a template using OpenXml. I'll see if I can dig up the code. But this is definitely a good direction to look in if Word is an absolute requirement.
This is a long shot, but can you output in HTML? If you can that's an even easier alternative.
Can you use Excel? That's also OpenXml but there's easier-to-use tools like EPPlus that simplify dealing with it, because it's not just the friendliest thing to work with.
An option that I would suggest is Crystal Reports. You can download the Crystal Reports add-in for Visual Studio for free from here. Crystal Reports is an easy way to perform reporting from various data sources including SQL. There are also a lot of free tutorials online for learning how to use CR. The syntax is a little strange, but it is easy enough to use.
The add-in allows you to create reports for your application and also build applications that can display, print, and export Crystal Reports.
You can export reports to .RTF (Rich Text Format) files. MS Word can open, edit, and convert RTF documents. It does a fairly decent job, but special formatting might take some work. This route is a ton easier than trying to write XML or anything else. I've written several reports designed for export to RTF. My boss runs the report, exports it, then edits it in Word. He loves the reports.
If you are planning on developing a lot of reports, purchasing the full version of Crystal Reports is well worth it. I believe they are on version 2016 currently.
If you do want to deal with automating Word, Microsoft's guide "Automating Applications Using the Office Object Model" Word-specific task content is here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/78whx7s6(v=vs.80).aspx
A larger example: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/316384
To begin, simply add an assembly reference to your project file for the correct Office Object Library (example: "Microsoft Word ##.0 Object Library"). Note that you must have Office installed to take this approach.
Good luck!
Is there a way to programmatically create PowerPoint presentations? If possible, I'd like to use C# and create PowerPoint 2003 presentations.
Yes, you can.
You will want to look into MSDN which has a pretty good introduction to it.
I might give you a word of warning, Microsoft Office interop is compatible with an API which is now more than 10 years old. Because of this, it is downright nasty to use sometimes. If you have the money to invest in a good book or two, I think it would be money well spent.
Here's a starting point for you. Use the search feature on MSDN MSDN Webpage. It's good for any Microsoft C# .NET style stuff.
Specifically in regards to your question, this link should help: Automate PowerPoint from C#. EDIT LINK NOW DEAD :(. These two links are fairly close to the original KB article:
Automate Powerpoint from C# 1/2
Automate Powerpoint from C# 2/2
Finally, to whoever downvoted this: We were all learning one day, how to do something as a beginner is most definitely programming related, regardless of how new someone might be.
OpenXML looks like the way to go from a web app.
Using the interop libraries is not recommended, as others have stated.
You can also look at Aspose Slides, a component for .NET and Java that makes it easy to generate powerpoint documents.
If you don't really need PowerPoint compatible output, consider using a markup language such as LaTeX with the Beamer package to produce a PDF of the presentation, or use HTML and javascript in a manner similar to Slidy. If you need fancy effects, it might still be easier to use SVG, and you'd have the benefit of getting output that can be reliably viewed with free software.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/magazine/cc163471(en-us).aspx
Use this link. Although this is in VB.NET, C# supports the same.
You may also try out SlideMight, a tool for merging hierarchical data with PowerPoint templates.
SlideMight supports:
text substitution in text fields, tables and notes
image substitution, from raw data, files and URLs
images in tables nested
iterations over data to create slides
iterations to populate tables, possibly spanning multiple slides
special formatting for specific cell values
hyperlinks to generated slides
Input data format is at this time just JSON.
There are versions for Windows and Mac OS X.
More information is at http://www.SlideMight.com
Disclaimer:
I am the owner of Delftware Technology, the company that developed SlideMight.
And I am one of the developers.
You can use Essential Presentation product from Syncfusion Software Private Limited. This product can be used to
Create and manipulate PowerPoint presentations
Open, modify, and save existing PowerPoint presentations
Convert PowerPoint presentations to PDF or Image
More information is at https://help.syncfusion.com/file-formats/presentation/overview
Disclaimer:
I work for Syncfusion Software Private Limited
I am creating an ebook for a friend. He has the content in word (docx) so I have a few questions. I created a thread earlier on how to approach this and the best response was to create PDF's out of it. The main point of this was so we can have insertable textboxes, links, and table of contents.
Now I was wondering if I can host the pdfs in my application. I want to make an "adobe reader" basically. Is there a library out there that does this? Can I use installed COM/dlls to do this?
The reason for this is that I was to create like a "quiz" section on my application, or a "report card" or even a "bookmark" feature.
Thanks guys.
Making a custom PDF browser control could be an extremely challenging task. You could instead use the real Adobe Reader in your application as it is provided as a COM control which could be hosted in any Windows application. Here are the steps:
Start a new WinForms application
Make the Acrobat control available in the toolbox (Tools -> Add/Remove Toolbox Items: turn on "Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Browser Document" in COM Components tab). Don't forget to grab a cup of coffee before clicking on the COM tab.
Drag the control to the form
Manipulate it:
axAcroPDF1.LoadFile("mypdf.pdf");
axAcroPDF1.Show();
I know this has been asked before, but I can't remember where. The accepted answer was something along these lines:
It would be a very bad idea to create your own PDF reader, because:
you are not in control of when Adobe
changes specs
Adobe provides a
reader free of charge, and most
users already have it installed.
Given the previous two statements, why would you want to spend that much time on reinventing the wheel? It makes sense to reinvent the wheel when you can improve upon it, but not when you are just copying functionality that is freely available.
It would be far better to find a way to use the Acrobat reader that they have already designed, and distribute free of charge.
This is very easy to do. All you need to do us use the WebBrowser control (assuming this is WinForms) and set the DocumentSource to the PDF file. The WebBrowser control will just automatically use whatever pdf reader is already installed on the client PC, just as would Internet Explorer.
I've had very good experiences working the the Aspose libraries. They're affordable and will save you a lot of time.
You can embed Adobe Reader in your apps via the ActiveX component that is installed on your machine along with the reader. You can add it to your VS Toolbox from the COM Components tab. Anyone who has Abobe Reader installed will then be able to use your app to view PDF documents.
Note that if there is not Adobe Reader installed your program will not work, or you need somehow to provide the lib with the application.
If you want something that does not require Adobe Reader then you may like to check out the iText#.
A potential problem with using a Adobe ActiveX/com component is that the user must have Adobe Reader installed for this to work (I don't think you're able and/or allowed to redistribute the activeX control only and wouldn't want to force my users to install Adobe Reader). So for more serious work I would try to use a Pdf library that you can distribute with your code such as writing a (presumably very small) P/Invoke wrapper for the open source library http://ccxvii.net/mupdf/ or if you can/want afford it use some commercial library.
An problem with using a webbrowser control is that you have to be careful to test what happens if a target user as embedding of pdf disabled in IE. It can happen that instead of embedding you get a external adobe reader (or whatever is registered as pdf handler) pop up! There might be a workaround, but I've been bitten by this before (resulting in one of those "works on my machine" problems)
I know I can display a Powerpoint presentation within my own form (see here), but I'm wondering whether there is a way to get rid of Microsoft Office as a requirement?
I guess basically what I'm asking for is a library which will display Powerpoint slide-shows without my users having to install MS Office on every machine. They do not need to CREATE slide-shows, just display them. Does such a library exist? I have searched all over the place and I'm always referred back to the MS Interop / ActiveX stuff.
Any help is appreciated!
Tom
Try this: PowerPoint Viewer 2007. Also see this thread about embedding a Powerpoint Viewer 2007 instance on a VB.NET form
I believe you can accomplish this with Aspose.Slides. It can open up an PPT file you have, then I think you could save each sheet to a image. Finally, you could show the images in your app.