Working with Table Presentation Properties in PowerPoint 2010

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Working with Tables in Microsoft Office 2010: Learn how to work with the visual properties of a table in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010.

Applies to: Excel 2010 | Office 2010 | PowerPoint 2010 | VBA | Word 2010

In this article
Add a Standard Module to a PowerPoint Presentation
Add the Code to the Visual Basic Editor
Test the Solution
Next Steps

Published:   June 2011

Provided by:    Frank Rice, Microsoft Corporation

Changing the styles of the various parts of a table such as the horizontal and vertical banding of its rows, and its column properties, enhances the display of a table. In this topic, you programmatically add a table to a Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 presentation and then manipulate some of its visual properties. To complete this task, you must do the following:

  • Add a Standard Module to a PowerPoint Presentation

  • Add the Code to the Visual Basic Editor

  • Test the Solution

Add a Standard Module to a PowerPoint Presentation

In this task, you open a PowerPoint 2010 presentation, open the Visual Basic Editor, and then insert a standard module.

To add a standard module to a PowerPoint presentation

  1. Start PowerPoint 2010.

  2. On the Developer tab, click Visual Basic. This opens the Visual Basic Editor.

    Note

    If you do not see the Developer tab in PowerPoint 2010, click the File tab, and then click Options. In the categories pane, click Popular, select Show Developer tab in the Ribbon, and then click OK.

  3. On the Insert menu, click Module. This adds Module1 to the Projects pane on the left side of the Visual Basic Editor.

Add the Code to the Visual Basic Editor

In this task, you add programming code to the Visual Basic Editor.

To add code to the Visual Basic Editor

  1. In the Projects pane, click Module1.

  2. Paste or type the following Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code into the module window.

    Sub TableProperties()
    Dim pres As Presentation
    Set pres = ActivePresentation

    Dim sld As Slide
    Set sld = pres.Slides.Add(2, ppLayoutTable)
    sld.Select
    Dim tbl As Table
    Set tbl = sld.Shapes.AddTable(4, 4).Table
    FillTable tbl

    ' Variables to maintain the state:
    Dim savedFirstRow As Boolean
    Dim savedFirstCol As Boolean
    Dim savedHorizBanding As Boolean
    Dim savedLastCol As Boolean
    Dim savedLastRow As Boolean
    Dim savedVertBanding As Boolean

    ' Store the current state:
    savedFirstRow = tbl.FirstRow
    savedFirstCol = tbl.FirstCol
    savedHorizBanding = tbl.HorizBanding
    savedLastCol = tbl.LastCol
    savedLastRow = tbl.LastRow
    savedVertBanding = tbl.VertBanding

    ' Alter all settings:
    tbl.HorizBanding = Not savedHorizBanding
    tbl.VertBanding = Not savedVertBanding
    tbl.FirstRow = Not savedFirstRow
    tbl.FirstCol = Not savedFirstCol
    tbl.LastCol = Not savedLastCol
    tbl.LastRow = Not savedLastRow

    ' Scale the table to half size:
    tbl.ScaleProportionally 0.5

    ' Put it back the way it was (twice as big as it is currently):
    tbl.ScaleProportionally 2

    ' Put things back the way they were:
    tbl.HorizBanding = savedHorizBanding
    tbl.VertBanding = savedVertBanding
    tbl.FirstRow = savedFirstRow
    tbl.FirstCol = savedFirstCol
    tbl.LastCol = savedLastCol
    tbl.LastRow = savedLastRow

End Sub

Sub FillTable(tbl As Table)
    ' Fill a table with sample data.
    Dim row As Integer
    Dim col As Integer

    For col = 1 To tbl.Columns.Count
        tbl.Cell(1, col).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "Heading " & col
    Next col

    For row = 2 To tbl.Rows.Count
        For col = 1 To tbl.Columns.Count
            tbl.Cell(row, col).Shape.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "Cell " & row & ", " & col
        Next col
    Next row
End Sub

Test the Solution

In this task, you step through the code. The best way to see the code in action is to place the Visual Basic Editor and the PowerPoint screen side-by-side.

To step through the code

  1. Drag the Visual Basic Editor to the right side of the screen.

  2. Next, drag the PowerPoint screen to the left side of the screen and adjust both screens until you can see clearly.

  3. Place your cursor in the TableProperties module, press F8 to get started debugging, and then press Shift+F8 to step through the code line-by-line (and bypass external procedures) and watch the code behavior.

Next Steps