Action buttons that remember ...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frans van Zelm
  • Start date Start date
F

Frans van Zelm

Hi,

Till now I use simple action buttons to jump from a 'menu' to a certain
slide.
In the slide model, I added an action button with action Last Viewed Slide.
So far, so good.

But I'd like the 'jump back' action button to return to the original 'jump
from'
slide. E.g.
- slide 10: jump to 50
- slide 50: 51, 52, type 75<Enter>
- slide 75: jump back
not to 52
but to 10

It would even be better if 'it' had a multiple level memory. I mean:
something
like the Undo-list.

My guess: use VBA-events? But I am a lousy PPt-programmer and my VBA-
help is broke. <F1> doesn't display the pull down lists with properties,
methods and events. :-(.

I would be gratefull for help.
 
What kind of presentation is this anyway? Do you have objects on these
slides that you can click on and do actions? if so, you can assign an
Action Setting to any object, not just to Action Buttons. If you have an
object on Slide 75 that you want to click on, right-click that object,
select "Action Settings", click the "Hyperlink to" dropdown and select
"Slide", select your slide, make sure you check the "Highlight Click" option
at the bottom left of the action Settings dialog box, then click "OK" to
close it out. If you don't have an object on that slide, draw a small
rectangle in a location that you will remember, do the exact same steps as
above. When done, right-click your rectangle and select "Format Autoshape".
On the "Colors and Lines" TAB set the fill color and line color to "None".
Now you have a hidden object that when clicked will jump you to a selected
slide.

This can be done with VBA, but is much harder than necessary. Basically you
would want to assign "names" to your objects, then assign a macro to a
button that hides a particular shape and goes to a particular slide, and
possibly shows a button on that slide. The macro assigned to that button
would show a different button on a slide, then send you to that slide, etc.,
etc., etc. If you are really interested in learning how to do this, I would
be happy to send an example or post some code.

I recommend the former method if possible. Then again, if you know about
the "type a number and press ENTER" method, just do that to go back to slide
10.
 
Till now I use simple action buttons to jump from a 'menu' to a certain
slide.
In the slide model, I added an action button with action Last Viewed Slide.
So far, so good.

But I'd like the 'jump back' action button to return to the original 'jump
from'
slide. E.g.
- slide 10: jump to 50
- slide 50: 51, 52, type 75<Enter>
- slide 75: jump back
not to 52
but to 10

It would even be better if 'it' had a multiple level memory. I mean:
something
like the Undo-list.

My guess: use VBA-events? But I am a lousy PPt-programmer and my VBA-
help is broke. <F1> doesn't display the pull down lists with properties,
methods and events. :-(.
Click to expand...

Start here, Frans,

Make PPT respond to events
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00004.htm

As you've seen, PowerPoint's "Last Slide Viewed" isn't the same as a browser's
back button.

For example, if I start on slide 10 then go to slide 20, Last-Viewed takes me
back to 10. But I was on 20 before that, Last-Viewed now takes me back to 20,
and now I'm in a Last-Viewed-LoopForever trap. ;-)

You'll probably need to maintain a list of some sort to track where the user
has been.

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
 
I think what you want is to create custom shows. If you have a custom
show that contains slides 50, 51, and 52, and your link to slide 50 is to
the custom show, when you continue from slide 52, it will reutrn to the
original slide (slide 10 in your example).
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/
 
Dear Bill, Steve and David,

(MS news groups, MVP's, Internet: magic!!!)

DAVID: Custom shows are already part of the deal. A user can choose from:
- basic level (start/open/save/close/exit, data entry, cut/copy/paste,
simple formulas and functions)
- advanced (...)
- analysis (lists, pivot table, external data, analysis toolpak)
- extra (options, startup, installation)
But that doesn't solve the problem. It exists in all custom shows.
I also read your response to the 'lost animations'. Thank you.

STEVE: I will study the Eventhandler Demo, honestly. Slight problem: daily
(during vacations) I struggle through e.g. all differences in Excel toolbars
in 97, 2K and XP. VBA in Excel (and Access and Word) is okay with me. But
VBA in PPT: shoot me!

BILL: 'What kind of presentation ...'
It contains all my knowledge of Excel: types of data, all formatting, all
functions, settings, startup options, shortcut keys, VBA, etc, etc.
Anything. To be used in class, helpdesk, consultancy, ... All theory is
supported by 'real working samples' in Excel.
I am working on similar presentations of Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, ...
versions 97, 2K and XP in US and Dutch (which is too much!)

I am completely content with the simple action buttons. The slide says: "See
Tools-Options-Calculation [ ] for Iterations". Click the [ ] and you see
slide 617 with an explanation.

Slide 2 has a main menu.
The user clicks (jumps to) 'Data' (slide 51).
On 'Data', he clicks 'Text' (55) which is the beginnning of a sequence.
Slide 56 briefly explains AutoCorrect.
This slide has an action button to Tools-AutoCorrect. This is the beginning
of a sequence, starting at slide 512. Some have action buttons to releted
topics. Here, the user wonders around a bit.

The [Jump back] button (in the slide master) should take the user back to
56 in one or two steps. It should follow a, could one say, 'jump stack'.
The 'type #<enter>' method won't work because users tend to forget where
they came from.
Assigning names ... Okay, but there are hunderds of [ ] action buttons in a
presentation. Daily I add at least five.
 
STEVE: I will study the Eventhandler Demo, honestly. Slight problem: daily
(during vacations) I struggle through e.g. all differences in Excel toolbars
in 97, 2K and XP. VBA in Excel (and Access and Word) is okay with me. But
VBA in PPT: shoot me!
Click to expand...

<g> I have days like that too. But then there are the bad days. <g>
But if you can handle VBA in the other apps, you'll be able to do it in
PowerPoint too. If you run against a wall, post some sample code and someone
can probably help. Or at least tell you "That's impossible. Find a different
wall to beat your head on."
Assigning names ... Okay, but there are hunderds of [ ] action buttons in a
presentation. Daily I add at least five.
Click to expand...

You may want to think about breaking the presentation up into several smaller
ones. With that many links, you might run into trouble with PPT's internal
link storage limit.

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
 
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