PowerPoint Orchestrator Forge

Version: 1.0  Platform: OutSystems Forge Underlying Library: PPTXGenJS

Overview

PowerPoint Orchestrator is an OutSystems Forge component that enables browser-side generation of rich PowerPoint (.pptx) files without any server-side processing. It wraps the PPTXGenJS library as a suite of OutSystems Client Actions, giving developers a structured, composable API to build presentations programmatically — including support for text, images, tables, bullet lists, master slides, and RTL layouts.

All generation happens entirely in the browser. The final output is triggered as a standard file download via the DownloadPresentation action.

Architecture Notes

• All Client Actions execute in the browser via JavaScript. No server round-trips are required for generation.
• Complex inputs are passed through OutSystems' ToObject() mechanism. Internally, the component uses a shared osUnwrap() utility to normalize the proxy structure this produces.
• The Presentation object returned by CreatePresentation must be threaded through every subsequent action and recaptured at each step. OutSystems copies Object local variables on input, so slide references are resolved internally via pres._slides[index] rather than being passed directly.
• Theme configuration (primary color, font, RTL flag, etc.) is stored on pres._theme so it remains accessible to all downstream slide actions without needing to be re-supplied.

Setup

Initiator — UI Block

Place the Initiator block once on any screen that uses PowerPoint Orchestrator Client Actions. It is an invisible initializer that loads the PPTXGenJS library into the browser at render time.

The block uses an Always False condition so it never renders visible content — it exists purely to guarantee the script is available before any generation action runs.

Usage: Drag it onto the screen, typically near the top of the layout. One instance per screen is sufficient.

Client Actions

Actions follow a create → build → render → download lifecycle:

CreatePresentation
  └─ CreateSlide
       ├─ AddTextToSlide
       ├─ AddImageToSlide
       ├─ AddShapeToSlide
       ├─ AddTableToSlide
       └─ AddBulletsToSlide
DownloadPresentation

CreatePresentation

The entry point of the PowerPoint Orchestrator engine. Initializes a new, isolated PPTXGenJS instance in memory, resolves layout dimensions, handles branding and background media fallback logic, and configures localization parameters such as RTL mode.

Returns a Presentation object reference that must be passed into every subsequent action.

Input Parameters

PresentationConfig Attributes

Output Parameters

CreateSlide

Appends a new slide to the presentation. Accepts optional background overrides at the slide level, which take precedence over the defaults established in CreatePresentation.

Input Parameters

SlideConfig Attributes

Output Parameters

AddTextToSlide

Places a styled text block onto a slide at a specified position.

Input Parameters

TextIn Attributes

Output Parameters

AddImageToSlide

Places an image onto a slide at a specified position and size. Accepts binary data, data URLs, or plain URLs.

Input Parameters

ImageConfig Attributes

Output Parameters

AddShapeToSlide

Draws a built-in PPTXGenJS shape (rectangle, ellipse, line, etc.) onto a slide with optional fill, border, and text overlay.

Input Parameters

ShapeConfig Attributes

Output Parameters

DefineMasterSlide

Registers a named master slide on the presentation. Slides can reference this master by name via SlideConfig.MasterName to inherit background, font, and layout defaults.

Input Parameters

MasterConfig Attributes

Output Parameters

CreateTable

Initializes an empty table object with defined column structure. Follow this with AddRowToTable calls in a loop, then AddTableToSlide to render.

Input Parameters

TableConfig Attributes

Output Parameters

AddRowToTable

Appends a row of cells to a table object. Call in a loop for each data row.

Input Parameters

Output Parameters

AddTableToSlide

Renders a completed table object onto a slide at a specified position.

Input Parameters

Output Parameters

CreateBulletList

Initializes an empty bullet list object with shared styling. Follow this with AddItemToBulletList calls, then AddBulletsToSlide.

Input Parameters

BulletConfig Attributes

Output Parameters

AddItemToBulletList

Appends a single item to a bullet list. Each item advances the indent level automatically. Call in a loop.

Input Parameters

Output Parameters

AddBulletsToSlide

Renders a completed bullet list onto a slide at a specified position.

Input Parameters

Output Parameters

DownloadPresentation

Triggers a browser file download of the finalized presentation as a .pptx file. Call this as the final step after all slides and content have been added.

Input Parameters

Output Parameters

None. The browser initiates the file download directly.

GetForgeStaticData

Returns static reference data used by the component, including available layout identifiers, bullet style entities, and shape type identifiers. Useful for populating dropdowns in builder UIs.

Input Parameters

None.

Output Parameters

Typical Usage Flow

Below is a minimal flow for generating a single-slide presentation with a title text block and a table.

1. Place Initiator block on the screen (once).

2. CreatePresentation
      PresentationConfig.Title       = "Q3 Report"
      PresentationConfig.PrimaryColor = "1A73E8"
      PresentationConfig.IsRTL        = False
   → Presentation

3. CreateSlide
      Presentation = Presentation
      SlideConfig.BgColor = "FFFFFF"
   → Presentation, SlideIndex (= 0)

4. AddTextToSlide
      Presentation = Presentation
      SlideIndex   = 0
      TextIn.Text  = "Quarterly Results"
      TextIn.X = 0.5, TextIn.Y = 0.3
      TextIn.Width = 9, TextIn.Height = 1
      TextIn.FontSize = 32, TextIn.Bold = True
   → Presentation

5. CreateTable
      TableConfig.ColWidths        = [2.5, 2.5, 2.5, 2.5]
      TableConfig.HasHeaderRow     = True
      TableConfig.HeaderFillColor  = "1A73E8"
      TableConfig.HeaderFontColor  = "FFFFFF"
   → Presentation, TableObject

6. AddRowToTable (loop for each row)
      TableObject = TableObject
      RowData     = [cell1, cell2, cell3, cell4]
   → TableObject

7. AddTableToSlide
      Presentation = Presentation
      SlideIndex   = 0
      TableObject  = TableObject
      X = 0.5, Y = 1.5
   → Presentation

8. DownloadPresentation
      Presentation = Presentation
      FileName     = "Q3_Report"

RTL Support

RTL (Right-To-Left) support is available at multiple levels:

When IsRTL is enabled at the presentation level, the Arabic (ar-SA) localization profile is registered automatically.

Table cell RTL — implementation note: PPTXGenJS does not accept rtlMode as a direct cell property. RTL is applied at the cell level by structuring the cell content as an array where the text string is the first element and the options object (containing rtlMode: true) is the second. This workaround is handled internally by AddRowToTable — consumers simply set IsRTL = True on the cell's TextIn entry as normal.

Known Limitations

• Multi-line cell content: Not supported in V1. Each table cell renders as a single text run.
• Image in table cell: Not supported in V1.
• Internal API dependency: Slide lookup uses pres._slides[index], which is specific to the bundled PPTXGenJS version. Upgrading the library requires re-validating this accessor.

Dependencies