How do I pass a string array to the PowerPoint object Range method in MATLAB 7.0.4 (R14SP2)?

I have created a COM object with a Range method. This method accepts a variant and returns a collection of objects.

ppt_app=actxserver('powerpoint.application')

ppt_app.Visible=1

ppt_presentation=ppt_app.Presentations.Add

ppt_slide=ppt_presentation.Slides.Add(1,'ppLayoutTitleOnly')

figure

plot(1:6,sin(2*pi*4*[1:6]))

print -dmeta -noui

ppt_figure1=ppt_slide.Shapes.Paste

t=1:100;

y=sin(2*pi*.1*t);

plot(t,y)

print -dmeta -noui

ppt_figure2=ppt_slide.Shapes.Paste

shapes=ppt_slide.Shapes

When I try to pass more than one string argument as follows

shapes.Range({'Picture 3'; 'Picture 4'})

I receive the following error

 ??? Invoke Error, Dispatch Exception: 

 Source: Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003

 Description: Shapes.Range : Illegal value for ^0. Bad type: expected 1D array of Variants, Integers, Longs, or Strings

 Help File: 

 Help Context ID: 0

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

The object method Range only accepts one-dimensional arrays. However, MATLAB by default creates two-dimensional arrays.

To work around this, apply the following prior to calling the Range method;

system_dependent('COM_SafeArraySingleDim', 1)

This forces MATLAB to export single dimension arrays instead of two-dimensional when exporting arrays to COM objects. Note that the cell array

 {'Picture 3'; 'Picture 4'}

elements must separated by a semicolon (";") rather than a comma (",") or a space.