Bullet Formatting Is Not Applied When Cloning Shapes or Slides Across Presentations in Java

Aspose.Slides Product Family
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1

Hi Aspose Team,

I’m working with Aspose.Slides for Java and facing an issue related to bullet formatting.

When I clone a slide from one presentation to another, or even when I create an empty slide in the target presentation and clone only shapes from the source slide, the bullet formatting is not applied in the target slide.

However, I’ve verified that the bullet formatting is correctly defined in the Slide Master of the target presentation.

Is there something specific I need to do to ensure the bullet styles from the master slide are applied when shapes are cloned?
Any insights or best practices would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

2

@faiez777

When cloning slides or shapes in Aspose.Slides for Java, it’s important to ensure that the bullet formatting is correctly applied from the Slide Master. Here are some steps and best practices to help you achieve this:

  1. Ensure Master Slide is Set: Make sure that the target presentation has the correct Slide Master set up with the desired bullet formatting. This is crucial as the bullet styles are inherited from the Slide Master.

  2. Clone Entire Slide: If possible, clone the entire slide instead of just the shapes. This will ensure that all formatting, including bullet styles, is preserved. You can use the cloneSlide method to achieve this.

  3. Manually Apply Bullet Formatting: If you are cloning only shapes and the bullet formatting is not applied, you may need to manually set the bullet formatting for each paragraph in the cloned shapes. Here’s a code snippet that demonstrates how to do this:

    // Assuming 'sourceSlide' is the slide you are cloning from
// and 'targetSlide' is the slide you are cloning to
for (IShape shape : sourceSlide.getShapes()) {
    if (shape instanceof IAutoShape) {
        IAutoShape clonedShape = (IAutoShape)targetSlide.getShapes().addClone(shape);
        ITextFrame textFrame = clonedShape.getTextFrame();
        if (textFrame != null) {
            for (Paragraph paragraph : textFrame.getParagraphs()) {
                // Apply bullet formatting from the master slide
                paragraph.getParagraphFormat().getBullet().setType(BulletType.Symbol);
                paragraph.getParagraphFormat().getBullet().setChar((char) 8226); // Example bullet character
                // Set other bullet properties as needed
            }
        }
    }
}

  4. Check for Updates: Ensure you are using the latest version of Aspose.Slides, as updates may include bug fixes and improvements related to slide and shape cloning.

By following these steps, you should be able to maintain the bullet formatting when cloning slides or shapes across presentations. If you continue to experience issues, consider checking the Aspose documentation or community forums for additional insights.

Sources:
[1]: AsposeCreateBulletList.java

3

Thank you for your response,
I tried to do clone the whole slide with this:

targetPresentation.getSlides().addClone(sourceSlide,targetPresentationSlideMaster);

The theme and colors are applied but for bullet belongs to the source slide.

4

@faiez777,
We’re sorry that you encountered this problem, but we need more details to investigate the issue. Please share the following files and information:

  • initial presentation files
  • complete code example to reproduce the problem
  • output presentation file
  • Aspose.Slides version you are using
5

Thank you for your response, I drop here my code

Presentation sourcePresentation = new Presentation(sourcePresentationPath);
Presentation targetPresentation = new Presentation(targetPresentationPath);
targetPresentation.getSlides().addClone(sourcePresentation.getSlides().get_Item(0),
        targetPresentation.getMasters().get_Item(0), true);
targetPresentation.save(outputPath, SaveFormat.Pptx);

Here the files that I used:
pptFolder.zip (85.3 KB)

Here the screenshots:

result.png (39.6 KB)

source.png (53.5 KB)

target.png (51.2 KB)

I’m using the version 25.2

6

@faiez777,
Thank you for the sample files and additional information. The issue occurs because, when cloning the slide, you’re specifying the master slide from the target presentation. Please try cloning the master slide from the source presentation into the target presentation first, and then use that master slide when cloning the regular slide. The following code example shows how to do this:

Presentation sourcePresentation = new Presentation(sourcePresentationPath);
IMasterSlide sourceMasterSlide = sourcePresentation.getMasters().get_Item(0);
ISlide sourceSlide = sourcePresentation.getSlides().get_Item(0);

Presentation targetPresentation = new Presentation(targetPresentationPath);
IMasterSlide masterSlide = targetPresentation.getMasters().addClone(sourceMasterSlide);
targetPresentation.getSlides().addClone(sourceSlide, masterSlide, true);

targetPresentation.save(outputPath, SaveFormat.Pptx);

targetPresentation.dispose();
sourcePresentation.dispose();

Clone Slides|Aspose.Slides Documentation

7

Thank you for your response, I figure out that the problem is linked with the pptx target file, the placeholder must not be copied as a result the clone will not work with bullets

8

@faiez777,
When cloning shapes between presentations, bullet formatting might not be preserved automatically, especially if it’s defined via the master slide. In such cases, it’s recommended to either clone the entire slide with the appropriate master slide or manually apply bullet formatting after cloning.

9

Thank you for your support, problem resolved.

10

@faiez777,
Thank you for using Aspose.Slides for Java.