Nano Interactive Slides (NIS)

Nano Interactive Slides (NIS) is a PowerPoint add-in that adds a per-slide control panel for:

• Simulation Controls (speed / capacity / delay + projection to the slide),
• Nano Mode (style inputs and image generation hooks with caching),
• Linked Sequence (per-slide “Next slide” mapping, auto-advance, and one-time inheritance).

All settings are per slide and persist inside the PowerPoint document.

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Table of Contents

• Prerequisites
• Getting Started
• Current Features
• How to Use
  • Simulation Controls
  • Linked Sequence
  • Nano Mode
• Persistence & Caching
• Active Source Files
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Developer Notes
• Troubleshooting
• Roadmap
• License

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Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• pnpm (you can use npm, but scripts here assume pnpm)
• Microsoft PowerPoint (Windows desktop with Office.js support)

If HTTPS dev certs are not trusted on your machine, install Microsoft’s dev certs:

npx office-addin-dev-certs install

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Getting Started

1) Install dependencies

pnpm install

2) Run from repository root (recommended)

pnpm run dev-addin # starts the dev server at https://localhost:3000 pnpm run start-addin # sideloads the manifest and launches PowerPoint

Alternative (single command per directory)

pnpm --dir src/addins/powerpoint dev

Windows note: Some shells mis-handle -C. Use --dir or the root scripts above.

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Current Features

• Per-Slide State

  • All Simulation Controls and Nano Mode inputs persist per slide and are restored after save/reopen.

• Linked Sequence (MVP)

  • Enable per slide and choose a Next slide. Includes Play from this slide and Advance now actions.

• Auto-advance While Running

  • A per-slide timer that arms on Start/Auto-Start and cancels on Stop or on slide change.

• Inherit on First Visit

  • Optionally copy Simulation settings (and optionally Nano Style) once when visiting the mapped next slide for the first time, only if it has no saved state yet.

• Live Preview & Projection

  • Built-in canvas preview, Snapshot to slide, Export/Import JSON, and Download PNG.

• Image Caching (Nano)

  • Generated images are cached by a stable style hash.

• Quality-of-Life

  • Faster slide switching (hybrid detection of the active slide).
  • Graceful fallbacks when APIs are unavailable.

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How to Use

Simulation Controls

• Speed / Capacity / Delay — live sliders; values are saved on change.
• Project to slide + Project ms — periodically snapshot the preview to the slide.
• Auto-Start on slide — engine starts automatically when you visit the slide.
• Stop on slide change — automatically stop when leaving the slide.
• Actions: Start, Stop, Reset, Snapshot Now, Export JSON, Import JSON, Download PNG.

Linked Sequence

• Enable linked sequence on this slide — turns on sequencing for the current slide.
• Next slide — pick the target slide; navigation uses Office.js.
• Play from this slide / Advance now — manual controls.
• Auto-advance while running (+ ms) — per-slide timer.
• Copy Simulation… / Also copy Nano style — one-time inheritance on the first visit to the next slide if it has no state yet.

Programmatic navigation requires an Office.js build that supports presentation.setSelectedSlides (typically available in recent desktop builds).

Nano Mode

• Inputs: Style Theme, Seed, Prompt Add-on, Aspect, Caption, Auto-increment seed on Re-generate.

• Actions: Save Style, Style Selected, Re-generate Selected.

• Image generation can be plugged in via:

  // Optional: supplied by host environment // Returns a Promise<string | { base64: string }> window.NIS_generateImage = async (style) => { /* generate and return base64 */ };

• A simple fallback gradient generator is provided for development; results are cached.

Persistence & Caching

All state is stored in Office.context.document.settings:

• NIS:scene:<slideId> → Simulation Controls per slide
• NIS:style:<slideId> → Nano Mode per slide
• NIS:link:<slideId> → Linked Sequence config (next/auto/inherit…)
• NIS:img:<hash> → Nano image cache

An in-memory cache also accelerates slide switching.

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Active Source Files

src/addins/powerpoint/
├─ manifest.xml
├─ taskpane.html   # Task pane UI
└─ taskpane.js     # Task pane logic (all features above)

These are the only files you need to modify for UI/logic changes in the current setup.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

• Ctrl + Alt + S — Toggle Start/Stop (re-arms auto-advance if applicable)
• Ctrl + Alt + Right — Advance now

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Developer Notes

• Recommended dev flow:

  pnpm run dev-addin pnpm run start-addin

• Opening taskpane.html directly in a browser will log “Office.js is loaded outside of Office” — that’s okay for previewing the UI.

• If navigation APIs are unavailable, the add-in degrades gracefully: UI shows hints and other features continue to work.

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Troubleshooting

• Advance/Auto-advance does nothing: Ensure your PowerPoint build supports presentation.setSelectedSlides.
• HTTPS errors during development: npx office-addin-dev-certs install
• Projection does not appear on the slide: Enable Project to slide and make sure there is a valid insertion target/selection on the slide.

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Roadmap

• Nano Generator Integration: progress/cancel UI around NIS_generateImage, resilient caching, and placeholder-aware insert.
• Sequence Enhancements: loops/branches, run stats, lightweight status indicator.
• Tooling: automated tests and linting.

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License

Add your license here (MIT/Apache-2.0/etc.), or keep internal if this is private.