Group Presentation Shapes with Python

Overview

This article explains how to work with group shapes in Aspose.Slides. It shows how to add a group shape to a slide, place shapes inside it, and save the updated presentation. It also demonstrates how to access shapes stored inside a group and read their alternative_text values. In addition, the article briefly covers related group-shape capabilities such as nested groups, z-order, and locking options.

Add Group Shapes

Aspose.Slides supports working with group shapes on a slide. This feature lets you build richer presentations by treating multiple shapes as a single object. You can add new group shapes, access existing ones, populate them with child shapes, and read or modify any of their properties. To add a group shape to a slide:

1. Create an instance of the Presentation class.
2. Get a reference to a slide by index.
3. Add a GroupShape to the slide.
4. Add shapes to the new group shape.
5. Save the modified presentation as a PPTX file.

The example below shows how to add a group shape to a slide.

import aspose.slides as slides

# Instantiate the Presentation class.
with slides.Presentation() as presentation:
    # Get the first slide.
    slide = presentation.slides[0]

    # Add a group shape to the slide.
    group_shape = slide.shapes.add_group_shape()

    # Add shapes inside the group shape.
    group_shape.shapes.add_auto_shape(slides.ShapeType.RECTANGLE, 300, 100, 100, 100)
    group_shape.shapes.add_auto_shape(slides.ShapeType.RECTANGLE, 500, 100, 100, 100)
    group_shape.shapes.add_auto_shape(slides.ShapeType.RECTANGLE, 300, 300, 100, 100)
    group_shape.shapes.add_auto_shape(slides.ShapeType.RECTANGLE, 500, 300, 100, 100)

    # Write the PPTX file to disk.
    presentation.save("group_shape.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Access the Alt Text Property

This section explains how to read the Alt Text of shapes contained within a group shape on a slide using Aspose.Slides. To access the Alt Text of the shapes:

1. Instantiate the Presentation class to represent a PPTX file.
2. Obtain a reference to the slide by its index.
3. Access the slide’s shapes collection.
4. Access the GroupShape.
5. Read the Alt Text property.

The example below retrieves the Alt Text of shapes contained within group shapes.

import aspose.slides as slides

# Instantiate the Presentation class to open the PPTX file.
with slides.Presentation("group_shape.pptx") as presentation:
    # Get the first slide.
    slide = presentation.slides[0]

    for shape in slide.shapes:
        if isinstance(shape, slides.GroupShape):
            # Access the group shape.
            for child_shape in shape.shapes:
                # Access the Alt Text property.
                print(child_shape.alternative_text)

FAQ

Is nested grouping (a group inside a group) supported?

Yes. GroupShape has a parent_group property, which directly indicates hierarchy support (a group can be a child of another group).

How do I control the group’s z-order relative to other objects on the slide?

Use the GroupShape’s z_order_position property to inspect its position in the display stack.

Can I prevent moving/editing/ungrouping?

Yes. The group’s lock section is exposed via group_shape_lock, which lets you restrict operations on the object.