js-pptx

Pure Javascript reader/writer/editor for PowerPoint, for use in Node.js.

Table of Contents

• [Design goals] (#design-goals)
• [Current status] (#current-status)
• [License] (#license)
• [Install] (#install)
• [Dependencies] (#dependencies)
• [Presentation: Usage and Options] (#presentation-usage-and-options)
  • [Create a Presentation] (#create-a-presentation)
  • [Adding a Slide] (#adding-a-slide)
  • [Adding Text] (#adding-text)
  • [Edit existing TextField] (#edit-existing-textfield)
  • [Adding Images] (#adding-images)
  • [Adding Tables] (#adding-tables)
  • [Adding Charts and Shapes] (#adding-charts-and-shapes)
• [Inspiration] (#inspiration)
• [Design Philosophy] (#design-philosophy)

Design goals

• Read/edit/author PowerPoint .pptx files
• Pure Javascript with clean IP
• Run in browser and/or Node.js
• Friendly API for basic tasks, like text, shapes, charts, tables
• Access to raw XML for when you need to be very specific
• Rigorous testing

Current status

It can currently:

• read an existing PPTX file
• retain all existing content
• add slides, shapes, charts, text, images and images
• edit existing text fields
• save as a PPTX file

What it cannot yet do is:

• Generate themes, layouts, masters, animations, etc.

License

GNU General Public License (GPL)

Install

In node.js

npm install protobi/js-pptx

In the browser: (Not yet implemented)

<script src="js-pptx.js"></script>

Dependencies

• xml2js
• async
• jszip

---

Presentation: Usage and Options

PowerPoint presentations are created via JavaScript by following 4 basic steps:

1. Create a new Presentation
2. Add a Slide
3. Add one or more objects (Tables, Shapes, Images, Text and Media) to the Slide
4. Save the Presentation

---

Create a Presentation

A Presentation represents a single pptx file. If you want to create a new presentation you first need an existing pptx file to use its master slides.

var express = require('express');
var PPTX = require('../../lib/pptx');
var fs = require('fs');
var router = express.Router();
var path = require('path');

/* GET home page. */
router.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
	//read existing presentation
	var INFILE = '../test/files/TESTFILE.pptx';
	fs.readFile(INFILE, function(err, data) {
		if (err) throw err;
		//create new presentation
		var pptx = new PPTX.Presentation();
		pptx.load(data, function(err) {
			var slide=pptx.addSlide("SlideLayout1");
			slide.addImg(imgData,{x:1,y:2,w:3,h:1,type:"cm"});
			res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=FILENAME.pptx');
			res.send(pptx.toBuffer());
			
		});
	});

});

module.exports = router;

---

Presentation Properties

Several Presentation properties can be set:

	pptx.setCompany("Company");
	pptx.setAuthor("J");
	pptx.setTitle("Analyse Company");
	pptx.setSubject("Annual Report");

---

Adding a Slide

When adding a new slide, a LayoutName referring to a Master Slide Layout is required. The default name is slideLayout + the number of referring master slide. (located at ppt/slideLayouts)

//Syntax
var slide = pptx.addSlide(slideLayout1);

---

Adding Text

// Syntax
slide.addText({text, {OPTIONS}});
slide.addText(
	[
		{text, {Options}},
		{text, {Options}},
		{text, {Options}}
	],
	{position}
)

Option	Type	Default	Description	Possible Values
'position.x'	Numeric		horizontal location	0-n
'position.y'	Numeric		vertical location	0-n
'position.w'	Numeric		width	0-n
'position.h'	Numeric		height	0-n
'position.type'	Numeric	"inch"	measuring unit	cm, inch or point(72 ppi)
'algn'	String	"l"	text alignment	ctr (center),l (left),r (right), dist (distributed), just (justified)
'bold'	String	"0"	bold text	0: false, 1:true
'breakLine	String	"0"	appends a line break	0:false, 1:true
'color'	String	"000000"	text color	hex color code
'fill'	String	-	fill color of text Shape	hex color code
'italic'	String	"0"	italic text	0: false, 1:true
'lang'	String	"de-DE"	text language	language setting (i.e.'en-US')
'lineColor'	String	-	color of text shape border	hex color code
'lineSize'	String	-	size of text shape border	line size in pt
'size'	Numeric	18	font size	font size in pt
'typeface'	String	"Arial"	font face	font faces (i.e."Arial")
'underline'	String	"none"	underline text	sng (single Line), dbl (two Lines), dotted, dash

---

Edit existing TextField

Edit an existing TextField (i.e. from Master Slide)

// Syntax
slide.editTextContent(newText,TextField);

Option	Type	Default	Description	Possible Values
'newText'	String		new Text	Any String
'TextField'	String		Name of the TextField	Valid Names

Text Fields are named by default Titel or Textplatzhalter Master Text Field names located in ppt/slideLayouts/slideLayout[X].xml inside the <p:cNvPr> Element (replace [X] with number)

Example:

// Syntax
slide.editTextContent("Das ist der neue Text","Titel 1");
slide.editTextContent("Noch mehr Text","Textplatzhalter");

---

Adding Images

// Syntax
slide2.addImg(imgData,position);

Option	Type	Default	Description	Possible Values
'position.x'	Numeric		horizontal location	0-n
'position.y'	Numeric		vertical location	0-n
'position.w'	Numeric		width	0-n
'position.h'	Numeric		height	0-n
'position.type'	Numeric	"inch"	measuring unit	cm, inch or point(72 ppi)
'imgData'	String		Base64 String	valid base64 string

---

Adding tables

// Syntax
var position={x:3, y:4.5,w:15,h:7,type:"cm"};
var rows=[];
rows.push([
			{text:"Zeile1", options:{color:"ff0000",fill:"ffff00",algn:"ctr",border:{pt:"30000",color:"f00c93"},colSpan:2,rowSpan:2}},
			{text:"Spalte 2", options:{color:"ff0000",border:{pt:"30000",color:"f00c93"}}},
]);
rows.push([
			{text:"Zeile 2", options:{color:"ff0000",border:{pt:"30000",color:"f00c93"}}},
			{text:"Spalte 2", options:{color:"ff0000",border:{pt:"30000",color:"f00c93"}}},
])
slide4.addTable({rows:rows, type:"cm", rowH:[3.5,4], colW:3,position:position});

---

Table Options

Option	Type	Default	Description	Possible Values
'position.x'	Numeric		horizontal location	0-n
'position.y'	Numeric		vertical location	0-n
'position.w'	Numeric		width	0-n
'position.h'	Numeric		height	0-n
'position.type'	Numeric	"inch"	measuring unit	cm, inch or point(72 ppi)
'colW'	Numeric/Array		Column Width	0-n, or [values for columns]
'rowH'	Numeric/Array		Row Height	0-n or [values for rows]
'type'	String	"000000"	text color	hex color code

---

Table Cell Options

Option	Type	Default	Description	Possible Values
'algn'	String	"l"	text alignment	ctr (center),l (left),r (right), dist (distributed), just (justified
'bold'	String	"0"	bold text	0: false, 1:true
'border.pt'	String	master table	Border width in points	0-n
'border.color'	String	master table	Border color	hex color code
'breakLine'	String	"0"	appends a line break	0:false, 1:true
'color'	String	"000000"	text color	hex color code
'colSpan'	Numeric	-	Column Span	2-n
'fill'	String	master table	Cell Fill	hex color code
'italic'	String	"0"	italic text	0: false, 1:true
'lang'	String	"de-DE"	text language	language setting (i.e.'en-US'
'rowSpan'	Numeric	-	Column Span	2-n
'size'	Numeric	18	font size	font size in pt
'typeface'	String	"Arial"	font face	font faces (i.e."Arial")
'underline'	String	"none"	underline text	sng (single Line), dbl (two Lines), dotted, dash

---

Adding Charts and Shapes (from old library not yet used current lib)

"use strict";

var fs = require("fs");
var PPTX = require('..');


var INFILE = './test/files/minimal.pptx'; // a blank PPTX file with my layouts, themes, masters.
var OUTFILE = '/tmp/example.pptx';

fs.readFile(INFILE, function (err, data) {
  if (err) throw err;
  var pptx = new PPTX.Presentation();
  pptx.load(data, function (err) {
    var slide1 = pptx.getSlide('slide1');

    var slide2 = pptx.addSlide("slideLayout3"); // section divider
    var slide3 = pptx.addSlide("slideLayout6"); // title only


    var triangle = slide1.addShape()
        .text("Triangle")
        .shapeProperties()
        .x(PPTX.emu.inch(2))
        .y(PPTX.emu.inch(2))
        .cx(PPTX.emu.inch(2))
        .cy(PPTX.emu.inch(2))
        .prstGeom('triangle');

    var triangle = slide1.addShape()
        .text("Ellipse")
        .shapeProperties()
        .x(PPTX.emu.inch(4))
        .y(PPTX.emu.inch(4))
        .cx(PPTX.emu.inch(2))
        .cy(PPTX.emu.inch(1))
        .prstGeom('ellipse');

    for (var i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
      slide2.addShape()
          .text("" + i)
          .shapeProperties()
          .x(PPTX.emu.inch((Math.random() * 10)))
          .y(PPTX.emu.inch((Math.random() * 6)))
          .cx(PPTX.emu.inch(1))
          .cy(PPTX.emu.inch(1))
          .prstGeom('ellipse');
    }

    slide1.getShapes()[3]
        .text("Now it's a trapezoid")
        .shapeProperties()
        .x(PPTX.emu.inch(1))
        .y(PPTX.emu.inch(1))
        .cx(PPTX.emu.inch(2))
        .cy(PPTX.emu.inch(0.75))
        .prstGeom('trapezoid');

    var chart = slide3.addChart(barChart, function (err, chart) {

      fs.writeFile(OUTFILE, pptx.toBuffer(), function (err) {
        if (err) throw err;
        console.log("open " + OUTFILE)
      });
    });
  });
});

var barChart = {
  title: 'Sample bar chart',
  renderType: 'bar',
  data: [
    {
      name: 'Series 1',
      labels: ['Category 1', 'Category 2', 'Category 3', 'Category 4'],
      values: [4.3, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5]
    },
    {
      name: 'Series 2',
      labels: ['Category 1', 'Category 2', 'Category 3', 'Category 4'],
      values: [2.4, 4.4, 1.8, 2.8]
    },
    {
      name: 'Series 3',
      labels: ['Category 1', 'Category 2', 'Category 3', 'Category 4'],
      values: [2.0, 2.0, 3.0, 5.0]
    }
  ]
}

---

Inspiration

Inspired by officegen, which creates pptx with text/shapes/images/tables/charts wonderfully (but does not read existing PPT files).

Also inspired by js-xlsx which reads/writes XLSX/XLS/XLSB, works in the browser and Node.js, and has an incredibly thorough test suite (but does not read or write PowerPoint).

Motivated by desire to read and modify existing presentations, to inherit their themes, layouts and possibly content, and work in the browser if possible.

https://github.com/protobi/js-pptx/wiki/API

Design Philosophy

The design concept is to represent the Office document at two levels of abstraction:

• Raw XML The actual complete OpenXML representation, in all its detail
• Conceptual classes Simple Javascript classes that provide a convenient API

The conceptual classes provides a clear simple way to do common tasks, e.g. Presentation().addSlide().addChart(data).

The raw API provides a way to do anything that the OpenXML allows, even if it's not yet in the conceptual classes, e.g. e.g. Presentation.getSlide(3).getShape(4).get('a:prstGeom').attr('prst', 'trapezoid')

This solves a major dilemma in existing projects, which have many issue reports like "Please add this crucial feature to the API". By being able to access the raw XML, all the features in OpenXML are available, while we make many of them more convenient.

The technical approach here uses:

• JSZip to unzip an existing .pptx file and zip it back,
• xml2js to convert the XML to Javascript and back to XML.

Converting to Javascript allows the content to be manipulated programmatically. For each major entity, a Javascript class is created, such as:

• PPTX.Presentation
• PPTX.Slide
• PPTX.Shape
• PPTX.spPr // ShapeProperties
• etc.

These classes allow properties to be set, and chained in a manner similar to d3 or jQuery. The Javascript classes provide syntactic sugar, as a convenient way to query and modify the presentation.

But we can't possibly create a Javascript class that covers every entity and option defined in OpenXML. So each of these classes exposes the XML-to-Javascript object as a property .content, giving you theoretically direct access to anything in the OpenXML standard, enabling you to take over whenever the pre-defined features don't yet cover your particular use case.

It's up to you of course, to make sure that those changes convert to valid XML. Debugging PPTX is a pain.

Right now, this uses English names for high-level constructs (e.g. Presentation and Slide), but for lower level constructs uses names that directly mirror the OpenXML tagNames (e.g. spPr for ShapeProperties).

The challenge is it'll be a lot easier to extend the library if we follow the OpenXML tag names, but the OpenXML tag names are so cryptic that they don't make great names for a Javascript library.

So we default to using the English name is used when returning objects even if the object has a cryptic class name, e.g.:

• Slide.getShapes() returns an array of Shape objects and
• Shape.shapeProperties() returns an spPr object.

Ideally would be consistent, and am working out which way to go. Advice is welcome!

This library currently assumes it's starting from an existing presentation, and doesn't (yet) create one from scratch. This allows you to use existing themes, styles and layouts.