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Busy Developers' Guide to HSLF drawing layer

Busy Developers' Guide to HSLF drawing layer

Index of Features

Features

New Presentation

    //create a new empty slide show
    SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow();

    //add first slide
    Slide s1 = ppt.createSlide();

    //add second slide
    Slide s2 = ppt.createSlide();
    
    //save changes in a file
    FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("slideshow.ppt");
    ppt.write(out);
    out.close();
                 

How to retrieve or change slide size

    SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow(new HSLFSlideShow("slideshow.ppt"));
    //retrieve page size. Coordinates are expressed in points (72 dpi)
    java.awt.Dimension pgsize = ppt.getPageSize();
    int pgx = pgsize.width; //slide width
    int pgy = pgsize.height; //slide height

    //set new page size
    ppt.setPageSize(new java.awt.Dimension(1024, 768));
    //save changes 
    FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("slideshow.ppt");
    ppt.write(out);
    out.close();
                  

How to get shapes contained in a particular slide

The superclass of all shapes in HSLF is the Shape class - the elemental object that composes a drawing. The following pictute shows the class tree of HSLF shapes:

Class Tree of HSLF Shapes

The following fragment demonstrates how to iterate over shapes for each slide.

  SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow(new HSLFSlideShow("slideshow.ppt"));
  //get slides 
  Slide[] slide = ppt.getSlides();
  for (int i = 0; i < slide.length; i++){
    Shape[] sh = slide[i].getShapes();
    for (int j = 0; j < sh.length; j++){
      //name of the shape
      String name = sh[j].getShapeName();

      //shapes's anchor which defines the position of this shape in the slide
      java.awt.Rectangle anchor = sh[j].getAnchor();

      if (sh[j] instanceof Line){
        Line line = (Line)sh[j];
        //work with Line
      } else if (sh[j] instanceof AutoShape){
        AutoShape shape = (AutoShape)sh[j];
        //work with AutoShape
      } else if (sh[j] instanceof TextBox){
        TextBox shape = (TextBox)sh[j];
        //work with TextBox
      } else if (sh[j] instanceof Picture){
        Picture shape = (Picture)sh[j];
        //work with Picture
      }
    }
  }
                  

Drawing a shape on a slide

Warning
To work with graphic objects HSLF uses Java2D classes that may throw exceptions if graphical environment is not available. In case if graphical environment is not available, you must tell Java that you are running in headless mode and set the following system property: java.awt.headless=true (either via -Djava.awt.headless=true startup parameter or via System.setProperty("java.awt.headless", "true")).

When you add a shape, you usually specify the dimensions of the shape and the position of the upper left corner of the bounding box for the shape relative to the upper left corner of the slide. Distances in the drawing layer are measured in points (72 points = 1 inch).

  SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow();

  Slide slide = ppt.createSlide();

  //Line shape
  Line line = new Line();
  line.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(50, 50, 100, 20));
  line.setLineColor(new Color(0, 128, 0));
  line.setLineStyle(Line.LINE_DOUBLE);
  slide.addShape(line);

  //TextBox
  TextBox txt = new TextBox();
  txt.setText("Hello, World!");
  txt.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(300, 100, 300, 50));

  //use RichTextRun to work with the text format
  RichTextRun rt = txt.getTextRun().getRichTextRuns()[0];
  rt.setFontSize(32);
  rt.setFontName("Arial");
  rt.setBold(true);
  rt.setItalic(true);
  rt.setUnderlined(true);
  rt.setFontColor(Color.red);
  rt.setAlignment(TextBox.AlignRight);

  slide.addShape(txt);

  //Autoshape
  //32-point star
  AutoShape sh1 = new AutoShape(ShapeTypes.Star32);
  sh1.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(50, 50, 100, 200));
  sh1.setFillColor(Color.red);
  slide.addShape(sh1);

  //Trapezoid
  AutoShape sh2 = new AutoShape(ShapeTypes.Trapezoid);
  sh2.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(150, 150, 100, 200));
  sh2.setFillColor(Color.blue);
  slide.addShape(sh2);

  FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("slideshow.ppt");
  ppt.write(out);
  out.close();
                    
                  

How to work with pictures

Currently, HSLF API supports the following types of pictures:

  • Windows Metafiles (WMF)
  • Enhanced Metafiles (EMF)
  • JPEG Interchange Format
  • Portable Network Graphics (PNG)
  • Macintosh PICT
  SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow(new HSLFSlideShow("slideshow.ppt"));

  //extract all pictures contained in the presentation
  PictureData[] pdata = ppt.getPictureData();
  for (int i = 0; i < pdata.length; i++){
    PictureData pict = pdata[i];

    // picture data
    byte[] data = pict.getData();

    int type = pict.getType();
    String ext;
    switch (type){
      case Picture.JPEG: ext=".jpg"; break;
      case Picture.PNG: ext=".png"; break;
      case Picture.WMF: ext=".wmf"; break;
      case Picture.EMF: ext=".emf"; break;
      case Picture.PICT: ext=".pict"; break;
      default: continue;
    }
    FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("pict_"+i + ext);
      out.write(data);
      out.close();

  }

  // add a new picture to this slideshow and insert it in a  new slide
  int idx = ppt.addPicture(new File("clock.jpg"), Picture.JPEG);

  Picture pict = new Picture(idx);

  //set image position in the slide
  pict.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(100, 100, 300, 200));

  Slide slide = ppt.createSlide();
  slide.addShape(pict);

  //now retrieve pictures containes in the first slide and save them on disk
  slide = ppt.getSlides()[0];
  Shape[] sh = slide.getShapes();
  for (int i = 0; i < sh.length; i++){
    if (sh[i] instanceof Picture){
      Picture pict = (Picture)sh[i];
      PictureData pictData = pict.getPictureData();
      byte[] data = pictData.getData();
      int type = pictData.getType();
      if (type == Picture.JPEG){
        FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("slide0_"+i+".jpg");
        out.write(data);
        out.close();
      } else if (type == Picture.PNG){
        FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("slide0_"+i+".png");
        out.write(data);
        out.close();
      }
    }
  }

  FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("slideshow.ppt");
  ppt.write(out);
  out.close();

                    

How to set slide title

    SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow();
    Slide slide = ppt.createSlide();
    TextBox title = slide.addTitle();
    title.setText("Hello, World!");
    
    //save changes 
    FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("slideshow.ppt");
    ppt.write(out);
    out.close();
                  

Below is the equivalent code in PowerPoint VBA:

    Set myDocument = ActivePresentation.Slides(1)
    myDocument.Shapes.AddTitle.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "Hello, World!"
                  

How to modify background of a slide master

        SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow();
        SlideMaster master = ppt.getSlidesMasters()[0];

        Fill fill = master.getBackground().getFill();
        int idx = ppt.addPicture(new File("background.png"), Picture.PNG);
        fill.setFillType(Fill.FILL_PICTURE);
        fill.setPictureData(idx);
                  

How to modify background of a slide

        SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow();
        Slide slide = ppt.createSlide();
        
        //This slide has its own background. 
        //Without this line it will use master's background.
        slide.setFollowMasterBackground(false);
        Fill fill = slide.getBackground().getFill();
        int idx = ppt.addPicture(new File("background.png"), Picture.PNG);
        fill.setFillType(Fill.FILL_PATTERN);
        fill.setPictureData(idx);
                  

How to modify background of a shape

        SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow();
        Slide slide = ppt.createSlide();
        
        Shape shape = new AutoShape(ShapeTypes.Rectangle);
        shape.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(100, 100, 200, 200));
        Fill fill = shape.getFill();
        fill.setFillType(Fill.FILL_SHADE);
        fill.setBackgroundColor(Color.red);
        fill.setForegroundColor(Color.green);
        
        slide.addShape(shape);
                  

How to create bulleted lists

  SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow();

  Slide slide = ppt.createSlide();

  TextBox shape = new TextBox();
  RichTextRun rt = shape.getTextRun().getRichTextRuns()[0];
  shape.setText(
          "January\r" +
          "February\r" +
          "March\r" +
          "April");
  rt.setFontSize(42);
  rt.setBullet(true);
  rt.setBulletOffset(0);  //bullet offset
  rt.setTextOffset(50);   //text offset (should be greater than bullet offset)
  rt.setBulletChar('\u263A'); //bullet character
  slide.addShape(shape);

  shape.setAnchor(new java.awt.Rectangle(50, 50, 500, 300));  //position of the text box in the slide
  slide.addShape(shape);

  FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("bullets.ppt");
  ppt.write(out);
  out.close();
                

How to read hyperlinks from a slide show

    FileInputStream is = new FileInputStream("slideshow.ppt");
    SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow(is);
    is.close();

    Slide[] slide = ppt.getSlides();
    for (int j = 0; j < slide.length; j++) {

        //read hyperlinks from the text runs
        TextRun[] txt = slide[j].getTextRuns();
        for (int k = 0; k < txt.length; k++) {
            String text = txt[k].getText();
            Hyperlink[] links = txt[k].getHyperlinks();
            if(links != null) for (int l = 0; l < links.length; l++) {
                Hyperlink link = links[l];
                String title = link.getTitle();
                String address = link.getAddress();
                String substring = text.substring(link.getStartIndex(), link.getEndIndex()-1); //in ppt end index is inclusive
            }
        }

        //in PowerPoint you can assign a hyperlink to a shape without text,
        //for example to a Line object. The code below demonstrates how to
        //read such hyperlinks
        Shape[] sh = slide[j].getShapes();
        for (int k = 0; k < sh.length; k++) {
            Hyperlink link = sh[k].getHyperlink();
            if(link != null)  {
                String title = link.getTitle();
                String address = link.getAddress();
            }
        }
    }
                

How to create tables

      //table data              
      String[][] data = {
          {"INPUT FILE", "NUMBER OF RECORDS"},
          {"Item File", "11,559"},
          {"Vendor File", "300"},
          {"Purchase History File", "10,000"},
          {"Total # of requisitions", "10,200,038"}
      };

      SlideShow ppt = new SlideShow();

      Slide slide = ppt.createSlide();
      //create a table of 5 rows and 2 columns
      Table table = new Table(5, 2);
      for (int i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
          for (int j = 0; j < data[i].length; j++) {
              TableCell cell = table.getCell(i, j);
              cell.setText(data[i][j]);

              RichTextRun rt = cell.getTextRun().getRichTextRuns()[0];
              rt.setFontName("Arial");
              rt.setFontSize(10);

              cell.setVerticalAlignment(TextBox.AnchorMiddle);
              cell.setHorizontalAlignment(TextBox.AlignCenter);
          }
      }

      //set table borders
      Line border = table.createBorder();
      border.setLineColor(Color.black);
      border.setLineWidth(1.0);
      table.setAllBorders(border);

      //set width of the 1st column
      table.setColumnWidth(0, 300);
      //set width of the 2nd column
      table.setColumnWidth(1, 150);

      slide.addShape(table);
      table.moveTo(100, 100);

      FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("hslf-table.ppt");
      ppt.write(out);
      out.close();
    
                    
by Yegor Kozlov