opening powerpoint presentations in ruby via win32ole

Question

I've got this piece of code that works for Excel.

  require 'win32ole'
  excel = WIN32OLE.new('Excel.Application')
  excel.visible = true
  workbook = excel.Workbooks.Open('c:\file.xls');

But I have trouble getting the same thing done with for PowerPoint; This piece of code:

  require 'win32ole'
  ppt = WIN32OLE.new('Powerpoint.Application')
  ppt.visible = true
  presentation = ppt.Presentations.Open('c:\file.pptx');

Generates this error:

filename.rb in `method_missing': (in OLE method `Open': ) (WIN32OLERuntimeError)
OLE error code:80004005 in <Unknown>
<No Description>
HRESULT error code:0x80020009
Exception occurred.

Microsoft Support site says that the only required parameter is the filename.

Can you open older versions of powerpoint? Notice that you are opening a .xls file in your first example, and a pptx (the new format) in your second... — Marc Talbot, Feb 09 '12 at 15:21
Are you sure C:\file.pptx exists? I get that error if it doesn't. — Anodyne, Feb 09 '12 at 15:23
@Marc Talbot, I also converted the file to ppt just in case. Both versions of the file are opened without a problem the manual way — 97-109-107, Feb 09 '12 at 15:36
See: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1006923/automating-office-via-windows-service-on-server-2008/1680214#1680214 — troelskn, Jan 02 '13 at 00:05

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 19 '13 at 13:41

1

I put a 3 second wait and it fixes the problem

answered Feb 19 '13 at 13:41

user2087327

11
1

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 10 '12 at 09:06

I've found an ugly workaround:

  require 'win32ole'
  require 'fileutils'

  ppt = WIN32OLE.new('PowerPoint.Application')
  ppt.visible = true
  system "start c:/presentation.ppt"
  puts ppt.ActivePresentation.Slides.Count()
  ppt.ActivePresentation.Slides(2).Export("filename.jpg", ".jpg", 1024,768)
  ppt.ActivePresentation.Close();

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 24 '15 at 06:34

0

I got same error and adding ppt.visible = true was good enough for me.

answered Mar 24 '15 at 06:34

masaya

410
2
9
15

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 09 '12 at 05:31

-1

Try using Add instead of Open or Connect

for example:

presentation = ppt.Presentations.Add('c:\file.pptx');

answered Jun 09 '12 at 05:31

David

1

opening powerpoint presentations in ruby via win32ole

4 Answers4