remembering state even if I go back

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Guest

I often use powerpoint when I teach. Occasionally I solicit feedback on a
given point from my students and I wanted to display their feedback in my
presentation as I go. Here's the setup:

Let's say I have three options that can be placed in either group A, B, or
C. I create a chart that is four rows by four colums. I place labels across
the top and side and leave the boxes empty. I then create text boxes in each
of the empty boxes in the center of my chart (so there is a text box
corresponding to A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, and C3). In each of these
text boxes I place a check mark using the lowercase letter a and the font
"Webdings". I set the font color to white so it becomes invisible. I then
select the text box and assign it two custom animations, one that on click it
changes the font to black and then one that on click it changes the font to
white. I then change the timing settings for each animation from simply on
click to the use of a trigger. I set the trigger to clicking that text box
(so the trigger for A1's text box would be the A1 text box, and so on). All
of that works perfectly... my students are amazed. I can move forward in my
presentation and then back to the check boxes and they are just as I left
them. One problem though:

In the course of our discussion a student asks a question about a slide that
came before the checkboxes. I browse back and, after answering the question
browse forward to where we just left off. As I pass the checkboxes I notice
that they are gone.

Is there a way to keep the state of a slide even if I move backward through
the presentation past that slide? Thanks!

Furlong
Using both PowerPoint 2003 and XP so answers in either would be
appreciated... just let me know which one.
 
Furlong,

That is great!!!! I love your creative use of animations. I thought that if
you moved BACKWARD through a presentation, your animations would be in the
state you left them; it's just when you move forward that they change. How
are you moving back. If you keep hitting the left arrow key, you are likely
going to undo some animations one by one.

An alternative method is to use VBA, rather than animations. You could have
shapes hidden and shown so they stay where you want regardless of slides'
animations being reset. I have a couple of simple examples that might
interest you. Examples 6.4 and 6.6 hide and show shapes, and Example 6.7
lets you type text that is added to your slide. Go to my web site and click
on Examples by Chapter and Chapter 6:

http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

--David

David M. Marcovitz
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/
 
David,

Thanks for the response. I've never played with macros and vba. I grabbed
the stuff from your website and I'm working through it. Does this mean there
is no way to avoid resetting the slide otherwise? As for moving around...
generally it is using the left and right arrows or jumping to a particular
slide number using the corresponding number key. I'll let you know as I go.
Thanks!

-Furlong
 
There should be a way to preserve the state without macros, but I think
the left arrow is getting you. Perhaps, you could put hyperlinks on your
slides to link back to a specific slide. As long as you don't advance to
the next slide or undo the animations one-by-one, they should remain.
The advantage of using VBA is you have much finer control. You can
specify exactly what is hidden and what is shown, animations or undoing
animations won't screw that up.
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/
 
OK... so I've been looking over the code in the stuff you suggested. I
thought I understood what I would need to do but I don't think I get VBA
coding. Here's what I was thinking:

I figured I needed an If-Then-Else statement that would look at the color of
the text in the textbox and if the color was white it should set the color to
black, otherwise to white. I wrote the following:

Sub A1Click()
If
ActivePresentation.Slides(2).Shapes(24).TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Color.RGB =
RGB(255, 255, 255) Then

ActivePresentation.Slides(2).Shapes(24).TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Color.RGB =
RGB(0, 0, 0)
Else

ActivePresentation.Slides(2).Shapes(24).TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Color.RGB =
RGB(255, 255, 255)
End If
End Sub


but it doesn't work. What am I doing wrong? Thanks for the help.
 
Hmm. Your code works perfectly for me once I adjust the line breaks and
make sure that I really have a shape #24. For the line breaks, be sure
that everything from If to Then is on one big long line, and be sure that
each of your lines setting the colors (starting with
ActivePresentation.Slides...) is on one big long line. I assume this is
the case and the line breaks were put in by the newsreaders.

Also, you have to be sure that you are referring to the correct number
object. You might want to look at Example 8.7 on my site, and use those
procedures to name your objects. Then you can put names in quotes (such
as "MyBlackWhiteObject") instead of numbers (such as 24). The names
won't change if objects are deleted or re-ordered on the slide, but the
numbers will.

Let me know if this helps.

--David

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

Not sure what the problem was before but it all works now. I'm so excited.
Thank you for all the help on this.

Furlong
 
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