Powerful PowerPoint for Educators:
Using Visual Basic for Applications to Make PowerPoint Interactive
by David M. Marcovitz

Errata

As I discover errors, updates, and clarifications, I will list them here.

Page 81
The printer left out the "not equal" symbol in the AddPlants and AddAnimals procedures. The fifth line (beginning with If) of each procedure should read
```
If newStuff <> "" Then
```
See Example 6-7 for the complete correct example.
Pages 81-82
This is not an error but a note. In PowerPoint 2003, if you create a text box, but do not add any text to it, the text box will disappear. This can be problematic for the Signs of Spring example. You must have something in your text boxes after you create them. If you set up your slide just like the picture on page 82, you can have the first line of the text box be a blank line. Even a blank line will fool PowerPoint into keeping the text box around.
Page 128
The MakeNotDirty procedure is incorrect. It should read:
```
Sub MakeNotDirty ()
    ActivePresentation.Saved = True
End Sub
```
See Example 8-6 for the complete correct example.
Pages 139-142
The Printable Page example is not incorrect; however, if you use the RightAnswer and WrongAnswer procedures on page 136 (as suggested), you will need to add
```
ActivePresentation.SlideShowWindow.View.Next
```
at the end of the RightAnswer and WrongAnswer procedures. Otherwise, only the last answer chosen will be printed with the results (although scoring will be correct). See Example 8-11. Alternatively, adjust the code for RightAnswerButton and WrongAnswerButton as shown in Example 8-12, where only the first answer is recorded for the results slide.
PowerPoint 2007 Hiding and Showing
Hiding and showing does not always work properly in PowerPoint 2007. You can see this error if you have code to show a shape and it doesn't show, but when you quit out of Slide Show view, the shape is there. In this case, you can use an alternative method to hide and show shapes. Instead of hiding and showing the shapes, you can move them off the viewable area of the slide and move them back again. For example, in Example 6.6, you can "hide" the shapes with this Initialize procedure:
```
Sub Initialize()
    ActivePresentation.Slides(2).Shapes(4).Top = 3000
    ActivePresentation.Slides(3).Shapes(4).Top = 3000
End Sub
```
Showing the shapes is a bit trickier because you have to put the shape back in the right place. You can guess and adjust with something like this for the RightAnswer Procedure:
```
Sub RightAnswer()
    ActivePresentation.SlideShowWindow.View.Slide.Shapes(4) _
        .TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "Good job, " & userName
    ActivePresentation.SlideShowWindow.View.Slide.Shapes(4).Top = 150
End Sub
```
And then adjust the number 150 until it is in the right place. If you have a lot of shapes that need this adjustment, you might use a little macro to find out where the shape is now:
```
Sub WhereAmI()
    MsgBox ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange.Top
End Sub
```
You must be in Normal/Edit View to run this code and have the shape you want selected. Then hit Alt-F8 and choose WhereAmI macro. The message box that pops up will have the right number to use instead of 150. See Example 8-11. Alternatively, adjust the code for RightAnswerButton and WrongAnswerButton as shown in Example 8-12, where only the first answer is recorded for the results slide.

This page was created by Dr. David M. Marcovitz.
Last updated: July 22, 2009