«

1) Is it possible to create a powerpoint file with asp.net? I've
Googled it and can't seem to find a definitive guide.

2) If it is possible to create a powerpoint file with asp.net, is it
possible to pull exisiting slides together in a certain order rather
than creating the slides from scratch?

Thanks,
-Sean

"ssims" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...

> 1) Is it possible to create a powerpoint file with asp.net? I've
> Googled it and can't seem to find a definitive guide.
>
> 2) If it is possible to create a powerpoint file with asp.net, is it
> possible to pull exisiting slides together in a certain order rather
> than creating the slides from scratch?

It certainly is. There are two ways you could do it:

1) Use the Office XML file format:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
or
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

depending on your version of Office. This will allow you to create
PowerPoint files of any complexity of content. It is completely free but,
depending on your level of expertise with XML, you might find it a little
challenging...

2) Use Aspose:
http://www.aspose.com/Products/Aspos...s/Default.aspx

It's not free, but is incredibly easy to use, and will allow you to do
everything that you require.

Under no circumstances consider using Office Automation, as it is not
designed to operate server-side:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...US;q257757#kb2

It doesn't appear that Powerpoint supports the Office XML format...
from the 2003 link, "This download contains documentation on a number
of XML schemas for Microsoft® Office 2003 Editions including Microsoft
Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft Office
InfoPath® 2003, and Microsoft Office Visio® 2003 schemas. It also
includes schema information for Microsoft Office OneNote® 2003,
Microsoft Office Project 2003, and Microsoft Office Research
Services." I also don't see an option to save as XML from
Powerpoint. I guess I'll have to check out the commercial
option...though I really wish I could find a free option.

On Feb 8, 7:45 am, "Mark Rae" <m...@markNOSPAMrae.com> wrote:
> It certainly is. There are two ways you could do it:
>
> 1) Use the Office XML file format:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...d=fe118952-354...
> orhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=15805380-f2c....
>
> depending on your version of Office. This will allow you to create
> PowerPoint files of any complexity of content. It is completely free but,
> depending on your level of expertise with XML, you might find it a little
> challenging...
>

"ssims" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...

> It doesn't appear that Powerpoint supports the Office XML format...
> from the 2003 link

Apologies - my mistake...

> I guess I'll have to check out the commercial option...though I really
> wish I could find a free option.

Well, there may be other options depending on what you're actually trying to
do...

Is it absolutely 100% imperative that ASP.NET creates the PowerPoint
files...?

The general idea is, upload a variety of slides (200ish)...

Person logs in via the web, selects slides 1-5, 25, 37, 42 and clicks
Generate and a PPT file is generated for them.

I've been looking for any way to do this for almost 2 days, and it
seems that the only way anyone has found to do it is through
Automation.

-Sean

On Feb 8, 8:35 am, "Mark Rae" <m...@markNOSPAMrae.com> wrote:
> "ssims" <sean.s...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news: ups.com...
>
> > It doesn't appear that Powerpoint supports the Office XML format...
> > from the 2003 link
>
> Apologies - my mistake...
>
> > I guess I'll have to check out the commercial option...though I really
> > wish I could find a free option.
>
> Well, there may be other options depending on what you're actually trying to
> do...
>
> Is it absolutely 100% imperative that ASP.NET creates the PowerPoint
> files...?

Hi

This is exactly the app that we have done

We used Aspose.Slides..

A user would upload a file and an image would be created for each
slide (aspose.slides can do this also)

If a new presentation was needed, you could simply say I want slides
1, 2, 10 and 11 in either pdf or powerpoint format and it worked.

The kind of issues we had, was that to generate a pdf or a ppt, takes
a lot of memory if the ppts are large and contain a lot of images.
Generating a pdf can also be quite slow.

Under any circumstances do not consider using office to do this. It
doesnt scale well, you end up with powerpoint .exes remaining in
memory and eventually the whole thing crashes on top of you. Not what
you want for a application!



ssims wrote:
> The general idea is, upload a variety of slides (200ish)...
>
> Person logs in via the web, selects slides 1-5, 25, 37, 42 and clicks
> Generate and a PPT file is generated for them.
>
> I've been looking for any way to do this for almost 2 days, and it
> seems that the only way anyone has found to do it is through
> Automation.
>
> -Sean
>
> On Feb 8, 8:35 am, "Mark Rae" <m...@markNOSPAMrae.com> wrote:
> > "ssims" <sean.s...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> >
> > news: ups.com...
> >
> > > It doesn't appear that Powerpoint supports the Office XML format...
> > > from the 2003 link
> >
> > Apologies - my mistake...
> >
> > > I guess I'll have to check out the commercial option...though I really
> > > wish I could find a free option.
> >
> > Well, there may be other options depending on what you're actually trying to
> > do...
> >
> > Is it absolutely 100% imperative that ASP.NET creates the PowerPoint
> > files...?

"ssims" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...

> I've been looking for any way to do this for almost 2 days, and it
> seems that the only way anyone has found to do it is through
> Automation.

Please re-read (or even read for the first time) the link to the Microsoft
page which advises you strongly not to do this - that page wasn't written
for a joke, or to make your life difficult...

If you go down the Automation route, there is a very high probability that
it won't work at all in a production environment...

"Ily" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...

> We used Aspose.Slides..

Of course.

> Under any circumstances do not consider using office to do this. It
> doesnt scale well, you end up with powerpoint .exes remaining in
> memory and eventually the whole thing crashes on top of you. Not what
> you want for a application!

It seems that, no matter how many times people are told this, they really
won't believe it until their app crashes...

re:
> It seems that, no matter how many times people are told this

You should have a template or snippet to send in your warnings about that regularly.
Save some time that way...

<vbg>



Juan T. Llibre, asp.net MVP
asp.net faq : http://asp.net.do/faq/
foros de asp.net, en español : http://asp.net.do/foros/
===================================
"Mark Rae" <> wrote in message news:%...
> "Ily" <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
>
>> We used Aspose.Slides..
>
> Of course.
>
>> Under any circumstances do not consider using office to do this. It
>> doesnt scale well, you end up with powerpoint .exes remaining in
>> memory and eventually the whole thing crashes on top of you. Not what
>> you want for a application!
>
> It seems that, no matter how many times people are told this, they really won't believe it until
> their app crashes...
>

I wasn't planning on using Automation...just stating that that seems
to be the only way to do it documented on the web. If Aspose can do
it for profit, why can't we do it using .Net or some other programming
language?

-Sean

On Feb 8, 10:04 am, "Mark Rae" <m...@markNOSPAMrae.com> wrote:
> "ssims" <sean.s...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news: ups.com...
>
> > I've been looking for any way to do this for almost 2 days, and it
> > seems that the only way anyone has found to do it is through
> > Automation.
>
> Please re-read (or even read for the first time) the link to the Microsoft
> page which advises you strongly not to do this - that page wasn't written
> for a joke, or to make your life difficult...
>
> If you go down the Automation route, there is a very high probability that
> it won't work at all in a production environment...