How to identify on-screen objects?

[g3nrw]

PowerPoint 2003.

I am writing some simple VBA code that animates on-screen objects (moves them around, sends to back, brings to front etc). It all works well, provided I know the identifier of each object (such as "Group 297", "Text Box 291", "Rectangle 255" etc).

Problem is, the only way I have found to identify the objects is to record a macro, do something simple with the object, then stop the macro. I can then discover the object's ID from the recorded macro, then use it in my own code. This works, but it becomes very tedious with a large number of objects.

Is there any other way of discovering the ID of an object? (Back in the mists of PowerPoint 97 I seem to remember they were displayed somewhere, but can't remember the details).

--
Ian

[Paul_Hossler]

In 2010, it's the Selection Pane

Handy because you can rename the object to something more meaningful

Paul

[g3nrw]

In 2010, it's the Selection Pane
Paul That's a shame, because I am using 2003, and apparently the Selection Pane didn't appear until 2007.

Ah well, back to the drawing board!

--
Ian

[Paul_Hossler]

sorry, don't have access to a copy of 2003 anymore

maybe they called it the same thing in 2003, and online help for 'selection pane' might find something

Paul

[Paul_Hossler]

did a little googling --


http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/selection-pane-2003-a-t3640151.html




You probably mean the "Select multiple objects" feature which was available
in PP2000-2003. You get a list of all objects on a slide by name and you can
easily select/deselect them. But that's all, no renaming etc possible (still
it was rather useful on many occasions).

This feature is hidden in the "Drawing" toolbar (click the little arrow on
the right side of the toolbar and select this feature).

Luca


Not sure if this it the same thing

Paul

[g3nrw]

Paul,

You pointed me in the right direction, with "Select Multiple Objects". This led to:

notes.
indezine.
com
slash
2010
slash
11
slash
select-multiple-objects-in-powerpoint
dot
html

I can now identify each shape individually. OK, I can't change its name, but this is good enough.

Thanks for your help.

--
Ian