There are several ways to control PowerPoint with a Stream Deck. But so far, no method has been published by which the slide number is displayed on the Stream Deck itself. The scripts in this repository make that possible.
Given the various differences, the way this can be accomplished is different for macOS and Windows. Therefore, different scripts are included for each of those systems. When using macOS, Keyboard Maestro is required, https://www.keyboardmaestro.com. On Windows we have to use AutoHotkey, https://www.autohotkey.com.
Basically, a PowerPoint macro saves the current slide number into a text file. That file is then read by either Keyboard Macro or AutoHotkey and then published to the Stream Deck. On both systems, the Stream Deck will look like this picture.
This is the macro that needs to be executed by PowerPoint. On the View tab, choose Macros. In the Macro dialog box, type the name for the macro: storeSlideNumber. Hit the + sign and copy and paste the following piece of code into the editor window.
This function saves the slide number in a text file called numberSlide.txt. Note that the pathFile variable contains a different path for this file, depending on the operating system. On macOS, I personally prefer to store numberSlide.txt in /usr/local/bin/. However, I can imagine someone would prefer to store that file in the Documents folder. Then the path on macOS becomes something like /Users/username/Documents/numberSlide.txt. It goes without saying that the pathFile variable in the function below should be modified accordingly. That also applies to Windows. In the function below the variable pathFile is defined twice. It makes swapping between macOS and Windows easier (to me). If running under Windows one should uncomment the Windows line and comment the macOS line.
Finally, the Powerpoint presentations that use this macro must of course be saved as PPTM files. When opening the presentation, macros must be enabled.
For the numberSlide.txt file, use an empty text file. An example of such a file is in the repository. It must be saved to the pathFile location.
Sub storeSlideNumber()
Dim slideNumber
Dim pathFile As String
'Windows
'pathFile = "C:\Users\gebruiker\Documents\OBS\PowerPoint\numberSlide.txt"
'macOS
pathFile = "/usr/local/bin/numberSlide.txt"
slideNumber = ActivePresentation.SlideShowWindow.View.Slide.SlideIndex
Open pathFile For Output As #1
Print #1, slideNumber
Close #1
End SubAs mentioned, macOS must use the Keyboard Maestro program. So it must be installed on your system. Download the macros nextSlide.kmmacros and previousSlide.kmmacros and double click on each of those files. They are then automatically stored in Keyboard Maestro. All you have to do is tick the checkbox "Triggered by any of the following:".
Note that the action "Read File to Variable 'slideNumber'" uses the path as defined in pathFile. See the previous passage about the variable pathFile.
At button ID you see that it says "R2C8", meaning row 2 and cell 8. So the number indicator is on the Stream Deck in the second row on the eighth button. Keep this in mind and change this if you want to move this button to a different location on your Stream Deck.
An example profile for the Stream Deck is in the repository. Download that file and double click it. You also need to add two plugins to the Stream Deck app. It concerns the plugin "Keyboard Maestro" and the plugin "KMLink". You can find both in the Stream Deck Store.
The buttons 'previous' and 'next' call the Keyboard Maestro macros 'previousSlide' or 'nextSlide' respectively. Those macros make PowerPoint go to the previous or next slide and that slide number is stored in numberSlide.txt. The value stored therein is then read again by Keyboard Maestro and displayed on the correct button on the Stream Deck.
I'm not a professional programmer, but you may already have noticed that. :-)
Will follow.