Paste a figure to powerpoint with actxserver when the presentation is invisible

Hi,

I am using actxserver('PowerPoint.Application') to make PowerPoint presentations in Matlab. I changed the Open function to make the presentation invisible:

h = actxserver('PowerPoint.Application'); %Create an ActiveX object
hInterface = h.Presentation.Open( fullfile(obj.templatePath_1, obj.templateName_1), 0,0,0 ); %Open an existing presentation by supplying the fullpath to the file

To copy figures I use the following method:

function addFigure(obj, actserverPP_in, presentationInterface_in)
    %Function to copy the figure of the object to the their figure
    %placeholder

    if exist( fullfile(obj.figurePath_1, obj.figureName_1), 'file') == 2 %Check if figure exists
        openfig( fullfile(obj.figurePath_1, obj.figureName_1), 'invisible');
        
        print -clipboard -dmeta

        noLastSlide = presentationInterface_in.Slides.Count; %Get index of last slide
        Slide = presentationInterface_in.Slides.Item(noLastSlide); %Last slide
        %Slide.Select; %Select last slide -> not allowed when presentation is invisible

        Slide.Shapes.Placeholders.Item( obj.itemId_1 ).Select; %Select item to copy to
        actserverPP_in.ActiveWindow.View.Paste
        close %Close figure
    end
end

While the presentation was visible, I was able to select the slide and the placeholder item to copy the figure to. Now selecting the placeholder and paste the figure does not work anymore. I am looking for something like set(Slide.Shapes.Placeholders.Item( obj.itemId_1 ), 'Figure', fig_handle)

Any suggestions? Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

[Rahul]

Hi @jr1995,

I understand that you are trying to paste a figure from MATLAB to Powerpoint using 'actxserver' methods. You mention that you changed the Open function to make the presentation invisible.

Unfortunately, in this case, the ActiveWindow.View.Paste or Slide.Shapes.Placeholders.Item().Select won't work because selection requires a visible window.

A workaround in this case would be to:

• Export the figure as a '.png' file.
• Instead of using the 'Slide.Shapes.Placeholders'
• Insert the image directly using 'Slide.Shapes.AddPicture' with the path of the exported image
• Set appropriate parameters to set the image.

The following references provide a good resource:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/91547-how-do-i-insert-a-matlab-figure-into-an-excel-workbook-through-activex

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1806495-error-using-addpicture-method-on-slide-obj-opened-with-powerpoint-application-no-method-addpicture

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/264558-how-do-i-add-multiple-png-files-to-an-existing-powerpoint-pptx-file-using-a-for-loop

Thanks.