Overview

Consider an XML tree that has the following basic structure:

<p:sld>
  <p:cSld>
    <p:spTree>
      <p:sp>
        <p:txBody>
          Your text here!
   (not really, there are other elements needed within here)
        </p:txBody>
      </p:sp>
      <p:sp>
      </p:sp>
      …
    </p:spTree>
  </p:cSld>
</p:sld>

In the structure above, we are interested in the content contained within the matching <p:txBody> tags. The understanding of this tag in relation to the basic slide structure above encompasses the schema background needed to digest effectively the remainder of this description.

Note that shapes are the standard container within which all text resides. Usually, the shape does not have any visual properties attached to it and thus no visible shape is rendered; nonetheless, a shape is still present and does house any content text.

Each shape contains an inset rectangle that houses any text attached to that shape. The shape has margins or insets that buffer this rectangle on all four sides (top, bottom, left, and right) just like margins on a page. When thinking about text within a shape, it is useful to keep these inset properties in mind.

An illustration of this is provided below.

Let's look at the different element tags contained within <p:txBody>. Listed below are only those tags discussed here. (Note that this sample framework is a skeleton and does not fully show all elements and attributes needed.)

<p:txBody>
  <a:bodyPr />         required, only listed once.
  <a:lstStyle />       optional, if present only listed once.
  <a:p>                required, no limit on the number of instances.
    <a:pPr />          optional, if present only listed once.
    <a:r>              required, no limit on the number of instances.
      <a:rPr />        optional, if present only listed once.
      <a:t>Your text here!</a:t>
                       Actual text for this run is contained here.
    </a:r>
    <a:endParaRPr />   optional, if present only listed once.
  </a:p>
</p:txBody>

<a:bodyPr>

<a:lstStyle>

<a:p>

<a:pPr>

<a:r>

<a:rPr>

<a:t>

<a:endParaRPr>