Detecting I-beam cursor position in slidesorter

[Martin Stender]

Hi all,

I have a bit of trouble inserting slides in the correct place, when the
slidesorter is in focus and the user has not actually selected a slide.
(f.x. if the curser is inserted between two slides).

Paste the following into a commandbutton (and add a few slides):

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()


If ActiveWindow.Presentation.Slides.Count = 0 Then
currSlide = 0
debugMsg = "empty presentation"
ElseIf ActiveWindow.Selection.Type = ppSelectionSlides Then
currSlide = ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.SlideIndex
debugMsg = "selected slide in slidesorter"
ElseIf ActiveWindow.Selection.Type = ppSelectionNone Or _
ppSelectionShapes Or ppSelectionText Then

'this is where the code fails
currSlide = ActiveWindow.View.Slide.SlideIndex
debugMsg = "none, shapes or text"
Else
currSlide = ActivePresentation.Slides.Count 'last slide
debugMsg = "last slide"
End If

Debug.Print currSlide, debugMsg

'in real life the following would be insertFromFile'
ActivePresentation.Slides.Add Index:=currSlide + 1, _
Layout:=ppLayoutBlank

ActiveWindow.View.GotoSlide currSlide + 1


End Sub

I can of course insert an "On Error Resume Next", but then the user
will just be mystified, when nothing happens.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance
Martin

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

It's a known problem, Martin. I don't know of any answer other than to trap
the error. Perhaps instruct the user to click on the slide they want to insert
after and try again.

 

[Martin Stender]

Thanks again, Steve for saving me hours trying get the cursor position
from the thumbnail view.

I did find another way, however. Even though it's a bit messy, it could
be useful for somebody, so I might as well post it:

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()

'<new stuff>
Select Case ActiveWindow.ActivePane.ViewType
Case 1, 7, 11 'the views we can insert slides in
'do nothing - continue
Case Else 'else notify the user to change view
MsgBox "Please switch to Normal View or" & vbCrLf & _
"Slide Sorter View to insert slides.", vbExclamation
Exit Sub 'get out
End Select

If ActiveWindow.ActivePane.ViewType = ppViewThumbnails Or _
ppViewSlideSorter Then 'we are in Thumbnail or slidesorter view"

If ActiveWindow.Selection.Type = ppSelectionNone Then
'nothing selected

'in case we need to return to slidesorter view
previousViewType = ActiveWindow.ViewType

'switch to normal view if needed
ActiveWindow.ViewType = ppViewNormal

'activate slide pane
ActiveWindow.Panes(2).Activate

'return to slidesorter view, if we came from that
ActiveWindow.ViewType = previousViewType

End If

End If
'</new stuff>


If ActiveWindow.Presentation.Slides.Count = 0 Then
currSlide = 0
debugMsg = "empty presentation"
ElseIf ActiveWindow.Selection.Type = ppSelectionSlides Then
currSlide = ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.SlideIndex
debugMsg = "selected slide in slidesorter"
ElseIf ActiveWindow.Selection.Type = ppSelectionNone Or _
ppSelectionShapes Or ppSelectionText Then
currSlide = ActiveWindow.View.Slide.SlideIndex
debugMsg = "none, shapes or text"
Else
currSlide = ActivePresentation.Slides.Count 'last slide
debugMsg = "last slide"
End If

Debug.Print currSlide, debugMsg

'in real life the following would be insertFromFile'
ActivePresentation.Slides.Add Index:=currSlide + 1, _
Layout:=ppLayoutTitle

ActiveWindow.View.GotoSlide currSlide + 1

End Sub

Best regards
Martin

P.S. I know the "Select Case" at the beginning is weird, but of course
I tried

If ActiveWindow.ActivePane.ViewType <> 1 Or 7 Or 11 Then
Exit Sub
End If

.... which just didn't work ... very odd...

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thanks again, Steve for saving me hours trying get the cursor position
from the thumbnail view.

<g> And thank YOU for posting the result.

Nothing weird about the Case statement, IMO. The ability to do just this is
one of the things that makes Case *so* handy in .. um ... I hesitate to say it
... cases like this.