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POExtracting an OLEObject (XML Document) from PowerPoint VBA
 

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  1. POExtracting an OLEObject (XML Document) from PowerPoint VBA
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    <p>I am developing an application in VBA. Userforms connect to a COM object that reads an SPSS Statistics SAV file or an SPSS Dimensions MDD file.</p> <p>Part of this application stores metadata in an XML document so that we can retrieve the metadata later and repopulate or update the graphics created from the userforms. This works fine as long as we rely on an XML file existing on a local drive - which is not a desirable solution. We would prefer to embed (not link) the XML in to the PPTM file, which I have been able to do (see attached).</p> <p><strong>The problem</strong> is that I can't find a way to get VBA to extract the OLEObject XML File successfully.</p> <p>The OLEObject can be opened from PPT manually (mouseclick/etc) and it renders fine. But when we try to programmatically extract this document and save it to a drive so that VBA can pass the file path to the COM object, the resulting extracted XML file always appears corrupted.</p> <p>The only method I have found is:</p> <pre><code>metaDoc.Copy CreateObject("Shell.Application").Namespace(ActivePresentation.Path).self.InvokeVerb "Paste" </code></pre> <p>I have read that there is some difficulty with OLEFormat.ProgID = "Package" which may not allow for the desired behavior.</p> <p>I have some workarounds in mind, like creating a ZIP copy of the PPTM file and extracting the embedded document XML file from that folder, which should work, but if there is an easier way to Activate this shape/object and interact with it via VBA, that would be extremely helpful.</p> <p>Here is some example code that creates the XML and inserts it. The question is how do I extract it, or must I do the ZIP method mentioned above?</p> <pre><code>Public Const XMLFileName As String = "XML Embedded File.xml" Sub ExampleCreateEmbedXML() Dim fso As Object Dim oFile As Object Dim metaDoc As Shape Dim shp As Shape Dim sld As Slide Dim user As String Dim xmlExists As Boolean xmlExists = False user = Environ("Username") XMLFilePath = "C:\Users\" &amp; user &amp; "\" &amp; XMLFileName Set sld = ActivePresentation.Slides(1) For Each shp In sld.Shapes If shp.Name = XMLFileName Then xmlExists = True End If Next If Not xmlExists Then 'If the XML OLEObject doesn't exist, then create one: 'Create a new file in the active workbook's path Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set oFile = fso.CreateTextFile(XMLFilePath) oFile.Close 'And then embed the new xml document into the appropriate slide Set metaDoc = sld.Shapes.AddOLEObject(FileName:=XMLFilePath _ , Link:=False, DisplayAsIcon:=False) metaDoc.Name = XMLFileName 'Save this out to a drive so it can be accessed by a COM Object: metaDoc.Copy CreateObject("Shell.Application").Namespace(ActivePresentation.Path).self.InvokeVerb "Paste" 'This file will be an empty XML file which will not parse, but even files that have been ' created correctly by the COM object (verified against the embed file vs. the extracted file) ' do not open properly. It seems that this method of pasting the object yields errors in ' xml structure. ' I have compared by activating the Metadoc object which renders fine in any XML viewer ' but the saved down version does not open and is obviously broken when viewed in txt editor Else: 'The file exists, so at this point the COM object would read it ' and do stuff to the document or allow user to manipulate graphics through ' userform interfaces which connect to a database ' the COM object then saves the XML file ' another subroutine will then re-insert the XML File. ' this part is not a problem, it's getting VBA to open and read the OLEObject which is ' proving to be difficult. End If End Sub </code></pre>
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