How do I get function prototypes for PowerPoint add-in macros when using actxserver​('PowerPoi​nt.Applica​tion')?

I am using the activex capability to control PowerPoint from MATLAB. I have written a couple VBA macros and saved them as a PowerPoint add-in. I can successfully call some of those macros, but not others. It appears that I don't have the right functional form, but I'm not sure how to discover it when it's not obvious. Any suggestions?

Here are the details in case someone wants to try to reproduce it...

In a .potm file I wrote the following macros, then saved it as a .ppam file and activated that add-in:

Function triggerBoxFcn()
    Dim testStr As String
    testStr = "Yay, it worked!"
    showBoxFcn (testStr)
End Function

Function showBoxFcn(textStr As String)
    MsgBox (textStr)
End Function

Function getItemAdjustments(slideNum As Integer, shapeNum As Integer) As Variant
    Dim points() As Double
    Dim numPoints As Integer
    Dim N As Integer

      numPoints = ActivePresentation.Slides.Item(slideNum).Shapes.Item(shapeNum).Adjustments.Count

      ReDim points(1 To numPoints)

      For N = 1 To numPoints
          points(N) = ActivePresentation.Slides.Item(slideNum).Shapes.Item(shapeNum).Adjustments.Item(N)
      Next N

      If numPoints > 0 Then
          getItemAdjustments = points
      Else
          getItemAdjustments = -1
      End If
  End Function

Function setItemAdjustments(slideNum As Integer, shapeNum As Integer, points() As Double) As Integer
    Dim numPoints As Integer
    Dim N As Integer

      numPoints = ActivePresentation.Slides.Item(slideNum).Shapes.Item(shapeNum).Adjustments.Count

      If numPoints = UBound(points) Then
          For N = 1 To numPoints
              ActivePresentation.Slides.Item(slideNum).Shapes.Item(shapeNum).Adjustments.Item(N) = points(N)
          Next N
          setItemAdjsutments = 1
      Else
          setItemAdjustments = -1
      End If
  End Function

Then from MATLAB I can run the following commands to initialize PowerPoint and get a slide:

ppt = actxserver('PowerPoint.Application');
ppt.Visible = 1; % opens ppt on screen (error when hiding window)
Presentation = ppt.Presentation.Add;
Slide1 = Presentation.Slides.AddSlide(1,Presentation.SlideMaster.CustomLayouts.Item(7)); % Item(7) is a completely blank slide

At this point I try to run my simplest macro which should pop up a message box in PowerPoint with the prepopulated text:

>> ppt.Run('triggerBoxFcn');
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'.

This didn't work. However, adding a dummy argument makes it work just fine:

>> ppt.Run('triggerBoxFcn',[]); % pop-up worked as expected

Then I try the slightly more elaborate function assuming that it too needs the dummy argument:

>> ppt.Run('showBoxFcn','Too bad :(',[]);
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'.

That didn't work. But if I omit that extra dummy argument it works just fine:

>> ppt.Run('showBoxFcn','This worked though :)'); % pop-up worked as expected

So now onto the functions I actually want to use. Though I could programmatically create and connect blocks, I do it by mouse in PowerPoint for now on slide 1. The elbow connector is the item of interest and it's number 3 as confirmed this crude way:

>> Slide1.Shapes.Count
ans =
     3
>> Slide1.Shapes.Item(3).Name
ans =
Elbow Connector 4

So I try all kinds of approaches and they all fail:

>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',1,3)
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',1,3,[])
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',[],1,3)
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',[],1,3,[])
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',1,3,[],[])
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> a=int32(1);b=int32(3); % thinking maybe it doesn't like doubles
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',a,b)
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',a,b,[])
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',[],a,b)
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',[],a,b,[])
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',a,b,[],[])
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> c=[]; % thinking maybe it wants me to pass in a container that it'll use to return
>> c=ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',a,b,c)
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'.

How do I know what form a macro function is expecting when it's called externally (i.e. from MATLAB)? I can't seem to guess and test this one to success but I'm not sure how to get function prototype information on the macro functions themselves. Using something like libfunctions(ppt,'-full') only tells me the form for the Run function (which is Variant Run(handle, string, SafeArray(Variant)) by the way) but that doesn't help me know how to call an individual macro function.

Answer 1

[Philip Borghesani]

I have never actually done this but I am going to give you an educated guess based on normal MATLAB use and error message interpretation.

   Variant Run(handle, string, SafeArray(Variant))

Says to me that the run command must take 3 inputs but that the third input can be a SafeArray of variant type which I expect translates into a cell array. Given that you would run a script with the syntax:

 ppt.Run('myfun',{ arg1, arg2, ...}) 
 % or with no arguments
 ppt.Run('myfun',{}) 
 % so
 ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',{1,3})

FYI: libfunctions is not the correct function to retrieve the function signatures. You should use the methods command. (libfunctions happens to work because it calls methods internally)

[Michael]

Thanks for taking a shot at it. It was a good guess, but unfortunately it didn't work. I get a different error when I pass all arguments as a cell array which seems to suggest there are not enough function arguments based on the "function not defined" type error. I get the same error if I only pass the first integer and not the second. Oddly, passing what should be the right amount of arguments and way too many arguments give the same error. See various input/error combinations below.

>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',1,3)
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',{1,3})
Error using COM.PowerPoint_Application/Run
Invoke Error, Dispatch Exception:
Source: Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
Description: Application.Run : Invalid request.  Sub or function not defined.
Help File:
Help Context ID: 0 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',1)
Error using COM.PowerPoint_Application/Run
Invoke Error, Dispatch Exception:
Source: Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
Description: Application.Run : Invalid request.  Sub or function not defined.
Help File:
Help Context ID: 0 
>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',1,3,5,7,9,11,13)
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'.

[Philip Borghesani]

You might try using invoke instead of run. I found this code:

 function runPowerPointMacro(fileName,macroName,varargin)
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 %
 % Run a powerpoint macro within a specified powerpoint 
 %
 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 % Initiate active X component
 powerPoint=actxserver('PowerPoint.Application');

 % Visible
 powerPoint.Visible=1;

 % Minimize powerpoint
 powerPoint.WindowState=2;

 % Load presentations object
 presentations=powerPoint.presentations;

 % Open file
 presentation=invoke(presentations,'open',fileName); 

 % Load VBA project
 k=presentation.VBProject.Collection.get();

 % Run Macro
 k=invoke(presentation.application,'run',macroName,varargin{:}); 

 % Close all
 presentation.Save;
 presentation.Close;
 powerPoint.Quit;
 powerPoint.delete;
 end

In a CSSM posting and referenced in an Undocumented Matlab article.

[Michael]

Thank you very much for that latest suggestion - it worked! I have no idea what the difference is between invoking run on a macro and just running the macro, but it definitely makes a difference I guess:

>> ppt.Run('getItemAdjustments',1,3)
No method 'Run' with matching signature found for class 'COM.PowerPoint_Application'. 
>> invoke(Presentation.application,'run','getItemAdjustments',1,3)
ans =
         0.222220003604889                         2          1.33333003520966

It is worth mentioning that the

k=presentation.VBProject.Collection.get();

line from the code you found was not necessary for me at all. I could just use the invoke command to run my macro right away. In fact, unless I adjusted the PowerPoint macro trust center options (check the "Trust access to the VBA project object model" option), that line errored out:

>> k=Presentation.VBProject.Collection.get();
Invoke Error, Dispatch Exception:
Source: Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
Description: Programmatic access to Visual Basic Project is not trusted.
Help File: ppmain10.chm
Help Context ID: 1e