How to pass text/strings from main file to beamertheme via beameroptions or is there an alternative way?

Question

In this and this question I learned how to pass simple definitions like a location from my main file to a e.g. beameroutertheme.

However this approach fails for longer strings or text blocks, in this example

"Hello World!"

main.tex

\documentclass{beamer}

\author{George Orwell}
\title{Animal Farm}
\date{\today}
\institute[TUD]

\usetheme[myText=Hello World!]{tudrobert}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\titlepage
\end{frame}

\end{document}

which can then be used in the template definitions:

beamerthemetudrobert.tex

\mode<presentation>

\DeclareOptionBeamer{myText}{\PassOptionsToPackage{myText=#1}{beamerinnerthemetudrobert}}
\ProcessOptionsBeamer

\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[absolute,overlay]{textpos}
\usepackage{calc}

\usepackage{fontspec}
\useinnertheme{tudrobert}

\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}
\setbeamertemplate{blocks}[rounded][shadow=true]  

\mode<all>

And finally the theme where I'd like to insert the text:

beamerinnerthemetudrobert.tex

\mode<presentation>

\DeclareOptionBeamer{myText}{\def\beamer@tudrobert@myText{#1}}    
\ProcessOptionsBeamer

\defbeamertemplate*{title page}{tudrobert}{%

    \usebeamerfont*{title}
    \MakeUppercase{\inserttitle}\par
    \vfill
    {\scriptsize\insertauthor}
    \vfill
    \beamer@tudrobert@myText
    \vfill
    \insertdate

}

\mode<all>

As you can see, the text is not parsed correctly.

enter image description here

What is the appropriate way to pass text defined in the main file to beamer themes?

Not a good way, but as a workaround I use otherwise unused fields. For example I wanted to add a conference location and stored it in the subtitle which my theme not uses otherwise. Than I can simply insert it with \insertsubtitle — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, Apr 27 '15 at 15:18

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

The following answer is based on https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/58512/36296 and the author definition in latex.ltx

main.tex

\documentclass{beamer}

\usetheme[myText=Hello World!]{tudrobert}

\author{George Orwell}
\title{Animal Farm}
\date{\today}
\institute[TUD]
\def\uni{Hello World!}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\titlepage
\end{frame}

\end{document}

beamerthemetudrobert.tex

\mode<presentation>

\DeclareOptionBeamer{myText}{\PassOptionsToPackage{myText=#1}{beamerinnerthemetudrobert}}
\ProcessOptionsBeamer

\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[absolute,overlay]{textpos}
\usepackage{calc}

\def\uni#1{\gdef\@uni{#1}}
\def\@uni{\@latex@warning@no@line{No \noexpand\uni given}}

\useinnertheme{tudrobert}

\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}
\setbeamertemplate{blocks}[rounded][shadow=true]  

\mode<all>

beamerinnerthemetudrobert.tex

\mode<presentation>

\DeclareOptionBeamer{myText}{\def\beamer@tudrobert@myText{#1}}    
\ProcessOptionsBeamer

\defbeamertemplate*{title page}{tudrobert}{%

    \usebeamerfont*{title}
    \MakeUppercase{\inserttitle}\par
    \vfill
    {\scriptsize\insertauthor}
    \vfill
    \beamer@tudrobert@myText
    \vfill
    \insertdate
    \vfill
    \@uni

}

\mode<all>

enter image description here

But I am not really sure why I need the \def in main.tex — samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz, Apr 27 '15 at 15:58
me neither, I lost the thread trying to understand how these inter-class-macros work. — Robert Seifert, Apr 27 '15 at 16:19

How to pass text/strings from main file to beamertheme via beameroptions or is there an alternative way?

1 Answers1