How to create a Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.ColorFormat

Question

Creating PowerPoint presentations in C# Visual Studio, I needed to create "colorFormat" object but I realize there is not constructor.

I have this code example in "C:\myPowerPoint\" for C# Windows Forms .NET

I have added from Reference Manager>COM>Type Libraries the assembly reference "Microsoft Office 16.0 Object Library" (Version 2.8), or also from NuGet: "Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint" (Version 15.0.4420.1018) added to my project...

I have created Form1, and button1:

using PowerPoint = Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint;
using Office = Microsoft.Office.Core;
using State = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState;
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace myPowerPoint
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.Application pptApplication = null;
        PowerPoint.Presentation ppt = null;
        PowerPoint.Slides slides = null;
        PowerPoint.Slide slide = null;
        PowerPoint.ColorFormat colorFormat = null;
        readonly float u = 72.0f; // Inches
        int k = 0; // Loop index

        public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Create a temporary PowerPoint Application to interact with
            pptApplication = new PowerPoint.Application();
            ppt = pptApplication.Presentations.Add(State.msoFalse);
            ppt.Slides.Application.Caption = "My First PowerPoint";
            slides = ppt.Slides; // pptApplication.Presentations.Slides

            // First Slide - Blank
            slide = slides.AddSlide(1, ppt.SlideMaster.CustomLayouts[PowerPoint.PpSlideLayout.ppLayoutText]);
            slide.Layout = PowerPoint.PpSlideLayout.ppLayoutBlank;

            // First Shape - FlowchartTerminator
            slide.Shapes.AddShape(Office.MsoAutoShapeType.msoShapeFlowchartTerminator, 6.61f * u, 4.57f * u, 0.77f * u, 0.23f * u);
            int i = slide.Shapes.Count;
            colorFormat = applyMyTemplate(slide.Shapes[i].Fill.ForeColor);
            slide.Shapes[i].TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Name = "Arial Narrow";
            slide.Shapes[i].TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Size = 5.0f;
            slide.Shapes[i].TextFrame.VerticalAnchor = Office.MsoVerticalAnchor.msoAnchorMiddle;
            slide.Shapes[i].TextFrame.HorizontalAnchor = Office.MsoHorizontalAnchor.msoAnchorCenter;
            slide.Shapes[i].TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "Box";
            slide.Shapes[i].Top = 4.57f * u;
            slide.Shapes[i].Width = 0.77f * u;
            slide.Shapes[i].Fill.ForeColor = colorFormat; // Here
            slide.Shapes[i].Line.ForeColor = colorFormat; // Here2
            slide.Shapes[i].Shadow.ForeColor = colorFormat; // Here3
            slide.Shapes[i].Height = 0.23f * u;
            slide.Shapes[i].Left = 6.61f * u;

            // Save and close PowerPoint
            string path = @"C:\myPowerPoint\";
            string file = "Presentation_" + System.DateTime.Now.ToUniversalTime() + ".ppt";
            file = file.Replace(":", "_").Replace("/", "_").Replace(" ", "_");
            if (System.IO.File.Exists(path + file)) System.IO.File.Delete(path + file);
            ppt.SaveAs(path + file, PowerPoint.PpSaveAsFileType.ppSaveAsPresentation, Office.MsoTriState.msoCTrue);
            ppt.Close();
        }

        private PowerPoint.ColorFormat applyMyTemplate(PowerPoint.ColorFormat colorFormat)
        {
            // Do some processing... Just an example, ignore it
            k++;
            if (k == 1) { colorFormat.SchemeColor = PowerPoint.PpColorSchemeIndex.ppAccent1; }
            if (k == 2) { colorFormat.SchemeColor = PowerPoint.PpColorSchemeIndex.ppAccent2; }
            if (k == 3) { colorFormat.SchemeColor = PowerPoint.PpColorSchemeIndex.ppAccent3; k = 0; }
            return colorFormat; 
        }
    }
}

Exception due to colorFormat need to be defined

So I need to know how to create colorFormat.

The question is resolved when "colorFormat" is properly defined in "slide.Shapes[i].Fill.ForeColor = colorFormat;" so the code will generate a Power Point file. Such presentation will show the backcolor in "Box" defined by colorFormat.

Edited: Nov. 24, 2024. I have replaced BackColor by ForeColor as:

slide.Shapes[i].Fill.ForeColor = colorFormat; // Here

Edited: Nov. 26, 2024. I need to reformulate the question since looks like I am asking about RGB color but, as Victor pointed out below, I assumed ColorFormat was a Class but an Interface. So, I have updated the code where I want to apply my template. Is it the right solution to the question? Please, the applyMyTemplate() function is just a functional example and it is not relevant to the question, do not try to optimize.

Answer 1

Actually the ForeColor is the COM interface. Therefore, you can use methods and properties it provides.

For example, to definition the shape fill color:

// The code based on the fragment from the question above 

using PowerPoint = Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint;
using Office = Microsoft.Office.Core;

...

var shape = slide.Shapes.AddShape(Office.MsoAutoShapeType.msoShapeFlowchartTerminator, 6.61f * u, 4.57f * u, 0.77f * u, 0.23f * u);
  
shape.Fill.ForeColor.RGB = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(0, 127, 0).ToArgb();        
shape.Height = 0.23f * u;
shape.Left = 6.61f * u;
...  

---

Any another method returning the System.Drawing.Color type might be used to obtain required color. For example:

shape.Fill.ForeColor.RGB = System.Drawing.Color.FromName("BurlyWood").ToArgb();