Visual Basic

Public Function GenerateDrillDown(ByVal strFileName As String) As Boolean
  Dim App As Object = Nothing
  Dim pres As Object = Nothing
  Dim slide As Object = Nothing

  Try
    App = CreateObject("PowerPoint.Application")
    App.Visible = -1 '  For debugging. Comment this out or set to 0 to keep the application from being visible.

    pres = App.Presentations.Open("C:\DevProjects\Docs\DrillDown.ppt", 0, -1, -1)
    slide = pres.Slides(1) ' There's only one slide in this ppt i'm using as the template.

    slide.Shapes.Item("Text Box 8").TextFrame.TextRange.Text = DecisionTitle ' These are all string variables
    slide.Shapes.Item("Text Box 13").TextFrame.TextRange.Text = Narrative
    slide.Shapes.Item("Text Box 14").TextFrame.TextRange.Text = Issues
    slide.Shapes.Item("Text Box 19").TextFrame.TextRange.Text = Scope

    If TopicType = 1 Then
     slide.Shapes.Item("Autoshape 9").TextFrame.TextRange.Text = IDNumber.ToString()
     slide.Shapes.Item("Autoshape 9").Visible = -1
     slide.Shapes.Item("Autoshape 56").Visible = 0
    ElseIf TopicType = 2 Then
      slide.Shapes.Item("Autoshape 56").TextFrame.TextRange.Text = "ST" & IDNumber.ToString()
      slide.Shapes.Item("Autoshape 56").Visible = -1
      slide.Shapes.Item("Autoshape 9").Visible = 0
    End If

    pres.SaveAs(strFilename, 1, 0)
  Catch ex As Exception
    Return False
   Finally
     ' Most of this is coming from another article I found online to help combat the problem of open references with office automation.
     GC.Collect()
     GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()
     GC.Collect() ' Intentionally repeated
     GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers() 
     If Not slide Is Nothing Then
      Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(slide)
      slide = Nothing
     End If
    
    If Not pres Is Nothing Then
      pres.Close()
      Masrhal.FinalReleaseComObject(pres)
      pres = Nothing
    End If
    
    If Not App Is Nothing Then
      App.Quit()  ' This doesn't do anything, no errors but ap stays open
      Marshal.FInalReleaseComObject(App)
      App = Nothing
    End If
  End Try

  Return True
End Function