Is it possible to update a powerpoint slide with new data (in C#) ?

Question

is there any examples out there on how to update a powerpoint slide (by clearing the text in a certain textbox and updating it with new content).

I have a monthly report to generate in powerpoint and i have all the data in a database. I am trying to determine if i can simply autogenerate the slides by having a blank powerpoint template with three textboxes and the data would get filled in from my C# code.

The other examples i would look for are:

bulletted lists tables

Any help in the right direction would be appreciated. I see a few questions on SOF that are similar but none seems to answer this question.

i assume the easiest would be to use the OpenXML format (.pptx) as i am running on a web server that may not have powerpoint on the machine.

Answer 1

You probably want to have a look at the Office Automation API. Will let you programatically modify, create, etc powerpoint documents.

This document is for an older version of powerpoint but the same process works for newer versions. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;303718

Word of warning though, if you do use office automation api make sure you build it against the lowest version of office you want to support with this tool you are creating in c#.

Answer 2

Yeah this is possible and here is a tutorial on how to do it online. They also have the sample code for the project in that blog which should help.