Working Solution for Worksheet Resizing

It has been observed that Excel worksheets embedded as OLE objects in a PowerPoint presentation through Aspose components are resized to an unidentified scale after the first activation. This behavior creates a noticeable visual difference in the presentation between the pre- and post-activation states of the OLE object. We have investigated this issue in detail and provided a solution, which is covered in this article.

Background

In the article Manage OLE, we explained how to add an OLE frame to a PowerPoint presentation using Aspose.Slides for Python via .NET. To address the object preview issue, we assigned an image of the selected worksheet area to the OLE object frame. In the output presentation, when you double-click the OLE object frame displaying the worksheet image, the Excel workbook is activated. End users can make any desired changes to the actual Excel workbook and then return to the slide by clicking outside the activated Excel workbook. The size of the OLE object frame will change when the user returns to the slide. The resizing factor will vary depending on the size of the OLE object frame and the embedded Excel workbook.

Cause of Resizing

Since the Excel workbook has its own window size, it tries to retain its original size upon first activation. On the other hand, the OLE object frame has its own size. According to Microsoft, when the Excel workbook is activated, Excel and PowerPoint negotiate the size to ensure it maintains the correct proportions as part of the embedding process. The resizing occurs based on the differences between the Excel window size and the OLE object frame’s size and position.

Working Solution

There are two possible solutions to avoid the resizing effect.

Scale the OLE frame size in the PowerPoint presentation to match the height and width of the desired number of rows and columns in the OLE frame.
Keep the OLE frame size constant and scale the size of the participating rows and columns to fit within the selected OLE frame size.

Scale the OLE Frame Size

In this approach, we will learn how to set the OLE frame size of the embedded Excel workbook to match the cumulative size of the participating rows and columns in the Excel worksheet.

Suppose we have a template Excel sheet and want to add it to a presentation as an OLE frame. In this scenario, the size of the OLE object frame will first be calculated based on the cumulative row heights and column widths of the participating rows and columns in the workbook. Then, we will set the size of the OLE frame to this calculated value. To avoid the red “EMBEDDED OLE OBJECT” message for the OLE frame in PowerPoint, we will also capture an image of the desired portions of the rows and columns in the workbook and set it as the OLE frame image.

def create_ole_image(cell_range, image_resolution):
    page_setup = cell_range.worksheet.page_setup
    page_setup.print_area = cell_range.address
    page_setup.left_margin = 0.0
    page_setup.right_margin = 0.0
    page_setup.top_margin = 0.0
    page_setup.bottom_margin = 0.0
    page_setup.clear_header_footer()

    image_options = cells.rendering.ImageOrPrintOptions()
    image_options.image_type = cells.drawing.ImageType.PNG
    image_options.vertical_resolution = image_resolution
    image_options.horizontal_resolution = image_resolution
    image_options.one_page_per_sheet = True
    image_options.only_area = True

    sheet_render = cells.rendering.SheetRender(cell_range.worksheet, image_options)
    image_data = io.BytesIO()

    sheet_render.to_image(0, image_data)
    image_data.seek(0)

    return image_data

start_row, row_count = 0, 10
start_column, column_count = 0, 13
worksheet_index = 0

image_resolution = 96

with cells.Workbook("sample.xlsx") as workbook:
    worksheet = workbook.worksheets[worksheet_index]

    # Set the displayed size when the workbook file is used as an OLE object in PowerPoint.
    last_row = start_row + row_count - 1
    last_column = start_column + column_count - 1
    workbook.worksheets.set_ole_size(start_row, last_row, start_column, last_column)

    cell_range = worksheet.cells.create_range(start_row, start_column, row_count, column_count)
    image_stream = create_ole_image(cell_range, image_resolution)

    # Get the width and height of the OLE image in points.
    with slides.Images.from_stream(image_stream) as image:
        image_width = image.width * 72 / image_resolution
        image_height = image.height * 72 / image_resolution

    # We need to use the modified workbook.
    with io.BytesIO() as ole_stream:
        workbook.save(ole_stream, cells.SaveFormat.XLSX)

        with slides.Presentation() as presentation:
            slide = presentation.slides[0]

            # Add the OLE image to the presentation resources.
            image_stream.seek(0)
            ole_image = presentation.images.add_image(image_stream)

            # Create the OLE object frame.
            data_info = slides.dom.ole.OleEmbeddedDataInfo(ole_stream.getvalue(), "xlsx")
            ole_frame = slide.shapes.add_ole_object_frame(10, 10, image_width, image_height, data_info)
            ole_frame.substitute_picture_format.picture.image = ole_image
            ole_frame.is_object_icon = False

            presentation.save("output.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Scale the Cell Range Size

In this approach, we will learn how to scale the heights of the participating rows and the width of the participating columns to match a custom OLE frame size.

Suppose we have a template Excel sheet and want to add it to a presentation as an OLE frame. In this scenario, we will set the size of the OLE frame and scale the size of the rows and columns that participate in the OLE frame area. We will then save the workbook to a stream to apply the changes and convert it to a byte array for adding it to the OLE frame. To avoid the red “EMBEDDED OLE OBJECT” message for the OLE frame in PowerPoint, we will also capture an image of the desired portions of the rows and columns in the workbook and set it as the OLE frame image.

# <param name="width">The expected width of the cell range in points.</param>
# <param name="height">The expected height of the cell range in points.</param>
def scale_cell_range(cell_range, width, height):
    range_width = cell_range.width
    range_height = cell_range.height

    for i in range(cell_range.column_count):
        column_index = cell_range.first_column + i
        column_width = cell_range.worksheet.cells.get_column_width(column_index, False, cells.CellsUnitType.POINT)

        new_column_width = column_width * width / range_width
        width_in_inches = new_column_width / 72
        cell_range.worksheet.cells.set_column_width_inch(column_index, width_in_inches)

    for i in range(cell_range.row_count):
        row_index = cell_range.first_row + i
        row_height = cell_range.worksheet.cells.get_row_height(row_index, False, cells.CellsUnitType.POINT)

        new_row_height = row_height * height / range_height
        height_in_inches = new_row_height / 72
        cell_range.worksheet.cells.set_row_height_inch(row_index, height_in_inches)

def create_ole_image(cell_range, image_resolution):
    page_setup = cell_range.worksheet.page_setup
    page_setup.print_area = cell_range.address
    page_setup.left_margin = 0.0
    page_setup.right_margin = 0.0
    page_setup.top_margin = 0.0
    page_setup.bottom_margin = 0.0
    page_setup.clear_header_footer()

    image_options = cells.rendering.ImageOrPrintOptions()
    image_options.image_type = cells.drawing.ImageType.PNG
    image_options.vertical_resolution = image_resolution
    image_options.horizontal_resolution = image_resolution
    image_options.one_page_per_sheet = True
    image_options.only_area = True

    sheet_render = cells.rendering.SheetRender(cell_range.worksheet, image_options)
    image_data = io.BytesIO()

    sheet_render.to_image(0, image_data)
    image_data.seek(0)

    return image_data

start_row, row_count = 0, 10
start_column, column_count = 0, 13
worksheet_index = 0

image_resolution = 96
frame_width, frame_height = 400.0, 100.0

with cells.Workbook("sample.xlsx") as workbook:
    worksheet = workbook.worksheets[worksheet_index]

    # Set the displayed size when the workbook file is used as an OLE object in PowerPoint.
    last_row = start_row + row_count - 1
    last_column = start_column + column_count - 1
    workbook.worksheets.set_ole_size(start_row, last_row, start_column, last_column)

    # Scale the cell range to fit the frame size.
    cell_range = worksheet.cells.create_range(start_row, start_column, row_count, column_count)
    scale_cell_range(cell_range, frame_width, frame_height)

    image_stream = create_ole_image(cell_range, image_resolution)

    # We need to use the modified workbook.
    with io.BytesIO() as ole_stream:
        workbook.save(ole_stream, cells.SaveFormat.XLSX)

        with slides.Presentation() as presentation:
            slide = presentation.slides[0]

            # Add the OLE image to the presentation resources.
            ole_image = presentation.images.add_image(image_stream)

            # Create the OLE object frame.
            data_info = slides.dom.ole.OleEmbeddedDataInfo(ole_stream.getvalue(), "xlsx")
            ole_frame = slide.shapes.add_ole_object_frame(10, 10, frame_width, frame_height, data_info)
            ole_frame.substitute_picture_format.picture.image = ole_image
            ole_frame.is_object_icon = False

            presentation.save("output.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Conclusion

There are two approaches to fix the worksheet resizing issue. The selection of the appropriate approach depends on the specific requirements and use case. Both approaches work the same way, whether the presentations are created from a template or from scratch. Additionally, there is no limit on the size of the OLE object frame in this solution.

Applying Protection to Presentation