JavaScript interaction with PowerPoint documents

7
votes

I have a task pane add-in for PowerPoint in mind that can help users with tasks on the active presentation. With Microsoft Office becoming more and more popular on platforms besides Windows using the JavaScript API would make a great portable implementation. There are a number of COM add-ins doing things like these via the PowerPoint object model:

  • Get the color of a selected shape and apply to another
  • Change position of shapes to align them
  • Copy one or more shapes from a slide in a presentation to another
  • Upload a selected image to a web service
  • Insert a slide downloaded from a web service

After going through the JavaScript API documentation it seems like these things are impossible at the moment. getFileAsync sounds remotely promising but does not help in the end. getSelectedDataAsync only returns text or titles and IDs for slides. So this isn't a solution either.

Is it correct that for the tasks above I am currently out of luck with the available JavaScript API for PowerPoint? I.e. I will need to wait for a more comprehensive API to become available (like the APIs for Word and Excel)? Anyone knows if Microsoft has something in the works here?

1
powerpointoffice-jsoffice-app
Excel seems to be getting most of the Javascript API love so far, with Word behind and PowerPoint barely in the race. From what I've seen, your understanding is right on target. PPT isn't ready yet. – Steve Rindsberg
Thanks for sharing your insights, Steve! – Paul B.
Add Outlook to the list, but the order of @SteveRindsberg in general is right. I expect to see a lot more effort in PPT this year though (already implementing Commands in preview now: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/mt621545.aspx ) OfficeJS is on the move and features are added in high speed for all host applications. – Maarten van Stam
@MaartenvanStam, thanks for sharing and confirming. I wasn't aware that ribbon customization had already been added. Let's hope PowerPoint JS comes next. – Paul B.

1 Answers

2
votes

Right now the Office extensibility team has been investing heavily in Excel and Word JavaScript APIs, the PPT API will also be available in the near future, but I cannot disclose any specific date. Stay tuned!!!