Using PowerPoint Output Format and PowerPoint Templates

In this section:

How to:

You may select PowerPoint as an output format in Developer Studio which enables you to:


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Procedure: How to Use PowerPoint as the Report Output Format in Report Painter
  1. In Report Painter, click Output from the Report menu.

    The Report Options dialog box opens at the Output tab.

  2. From the Select Format drop-down list, click PowerPoint as the output format for the report.
  3. Click OK to close the Report Options dialog box.

    Note: You may also select PowerPoint from the Output Format toolbar.

  4. Save and run your report.

    A PowerPoint output slide, that includes the report, is created, as shown in the following image.

  5. To reposition the report output on the PowerPoint slide, use the Page Margins options, located on the Format tab of the Report Options dialog box, which is shown in the following image. Increasing the top margin will move the output down on the slide, and increasing the left margin will move it to the right.

  6. Save and run the report again to see any adjustments.

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Procedure: How to Add Images to Your PowerPoint Report

You can add images, such as logos or backgrounds, to your PowerPoint report. To successfully import an image into a PowerPoint report, the image must be either a GIF or JPEG file type. Other file types are not supported in the PowerPoint output format. Images must be located on the WebFOCUS Reporting Server application directory.

Note: The PowerPoint output format cannot generate a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that references an image.

  1. In Report Painter, click Images from the Report menu.

    The Report Options dialog box opens at the Images tab.

  2. Select the File Name option button (default) in the Image Source box and type the path of the image file in the entry field.

    or

    Click Browse to select the image file from the Open dialog box.

  3. Click Add to add the image file to the list box.
  4. Click OK to add the image to the report.

Tip: You can easily add images to your PowerPoint output by placing the image in the Slide Master of a PowerPoint template. The template file can be utilized by all users and eliminates the need to add image files to the Reporting Server. For more information about PowerPoint templates, see How to Use a PowerPoint Template in Report Painter.


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Procedure: How to Add Graphs to Your PowerPoint Report in Report Painter

Adding a graph to PowerPoint works in the same manner as adding a static image file. The graph is rendered as a static image, held or saved on the Reporting Server, and then embedded into a report. There is no limit to the number of graphs you can add to a single PowerPoint report and the graphs can be positioned anywhere in the output.

  1. From the Procedure Viewer, create a Graph. InfoAssist opens.
  2. Create the graph or graphs you want added to your PowerPoint report.
  3. From the Format tab, click File and click Select a location and format.

    The Select a location and format dialog box opens.

  4. Name the graph or graphs and select either GIF or JPEG as the output Format type.

    Note: To successfully import a graph into a report, you must select either GIF or JPEG as your graph output format. All other graph output formats are not supported in PowerPoint.

  5. Save the graph and close the InfoAssist.
  6. Following the graph in the same procedure, create a report with Report Painter, as shown in the following image.

  7. Click Images from the Report menu.

    The Report Options dialog box opens at the Images tab.

  8. Select the Graph option button in the Image Source box and type the path of the image in the entry field, as shown in the following image.

    or

    Click Browse to select the graph HOLD file from the Open dialog box.

    Note: When a graph HOLD file is saved in a procedure, Report Painter detects this HOLD file and automatically lists it in the Images tab (when the Graph Image Source option is selected). The graph must precede the report.

  9. Click Add to add the graph to the list box.
  10. Click OK to add the graph to the report.

    The graph is represented with a graphical image and can now be sized and positioned.

  11. Click the Image view to size and position the graph, as shown in the following image.

  12. Save and run the document.

    The following image shows the document in PowerPoint output format.

Tip: To create a presentation that contains only graphs, make the report invisible. To do this, create a very simple request with an invisible BY field and a read/record limit of one.


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Procedure: How to Use a PowerPoint Template in Report Painter

Reports and graphs can be embedded into an existing PowerPoint template. The output is placed on a specified slide which can be anywhere in the presentation.

Note: A PowerPoint template must contain at least one slide for the report to populate, but can have as many additional slides as you want.

  1. Create and save a PowerPoint template:
    1. Add a blank slide to a document in Microsoft PowerPoint. This blank slide will be a placeholder for the WebFOCUS report.

      Note: This slide will be completely replaced when you execute the report, so any objects added to this slide will be lost when the report is executed.

      Tip: Objects added to the PowerPoint Slide Master will remain intact.

      The following image is an example of the template in PowerPoint showing the slide master.

    2. Save the document as a Web archive (.MHT extension) on your WebFOCUS Reporting Server application directory.

      Tip: Since the Reporting Server cannot differentiate between Excel and PowerPoint template files (.MHT), it is important to apply a naming convention to your template files. This will help you organize and distinguish the different Excel and PowerPoint template files when developing your reports. For example, Excel_template.MHT or PPT_template.MHT.

  2. In Report Painter, click Output from the Report menu.

    The Report Options dialog box opens at the Output tab.

  3. Use the drop-down list to click PowerPoint as the selected output format.
  4. Click the Format tab of the Report Options dialog box.
  5. Select the Use template check box.

    The drop-down list populates with the available PowerPoint templates to choose from.

    Note: In order for your PowerPoint template to appear in the drop-down list, it must be saved in your WebFOCUS Reporting Server application directory. This list displays all .MHT files in the server path.

  6. Select a slide to populate.

    The slide number is the number of the slide in the document. For example, if you have five slides in your document and you designated the second slide for the WebFOCUS report, then you would enter 2, as shown in the following image.

  7. Click Apply, and then OK in the Report Options dialog box.
  8. Save and run your report.

    The report and graph is embedded in the selected PowerPoint template on the selected slide, as shown in the following image.

Tip: PowerPoint templates can be utilized by multiple users and automatically distributed with ReportCaster. This ensures that all reports are consistent and show the standard styling, logo, and so on, for your organization.


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Creating, Viewing, and Editing PowerPoint Output

How to:

Reference:

When browsing or viewing PowerPoint files from the Internet Explorer web browser, a PowerPoint presentation will normally open within the web browser. However, you can change this by customizing the PPT file type properties in Windows. If you uncheck the Browse in same window property, PowerPoint will open in a new window separately from the browser. If you uncheck this option and a PowerPoint report is executed by WebFOCUS, the report opens in slide show mode and cannot be edited.

The following image is an example of a PowerPoint output in slide show mode.

To view and edit your PowerPoint output, change your settings so that PowerPoint documents open in the same window.



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Procedure: How to Change the Output Options for PowerPoint Documents
  1. From Windows Explorer, click Folder Options from the Tools menu.
  2. Click the File Types tab and select PPT (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation).
  3. Click Advanced from the Details for PPT extension section.

    The Edit File Type dialog box opens.

  4. Click Open from the Actions list.
  5. Select the Browse in same window check box, as shown in the following image.

  6. Click OK to close the Edit File Type dialog box.
  7. Click Close to close the Folder Options dialog box.
  8. From Report Painter, run the PowerPoint report.

    The PowerPoint output appears in the same window.

  9. Right-click and select Edit Slides, as shown in the following image.

    PowerPoint opens in a web browser with full editing capabilities, as shown in the following image.



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Reference: Redirection With PowerPoint Output

Redirection is turned off by default for the PowerPoint format. This can keep the output from updating when trying to re-execute a PowerPoint report and targeting the same output frame.

For example, if using the autoprompt facility with PowerPoint output, the target frame may not update when changing parameter values and running the report. For more information about Changing Redirection Settings, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.


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