[Tex/LaTex] Beamer table of contents — customize with block environments

beamertable of contents

I am trying to create a custom table of contents format. What I want to do is to have the description of the section inside a block environment like:

\section{Section 1}
\frame{
\begin{block}
This is section description 1
\end{block}
}

\section{Section 2}
\frame{
\begin{block}
This is section description 2
\end{block}
}

\section{Section 3}
\frame{
\begin{block}
This is section description 3
\end{block}
}

and then show those blocks in the table of contents, instead of the section names.

Let me explain why I need this. In my presentation I have three research questions that guide the overall presentation, and split it to several sections (each question is one section). Initially, I present all three together in one slide, but I then want to present only one of them, basically shading the rest, like what happens in the table of contents.

Is something like that possible?

Thanks in advance,
Y.K.

Best Answer

Below there's one possible solution; the basic idea is to redefine the section in toc template in such a way that the mandatory argument of \section will now be used for the description of the section and will be placed inside a block in the ToCs; the optional argument of \section can be used for the headline (in case an outer theme with section in the headline is being used). Here's the code:

\documentclass[breaklinks]{beamer}
\usetheme{Boadilla}
\useoutertheme{miniframes}

\makeatletter
\AtBeginSection{%
  \begin{frame}
  \frametitle{Outline}
  \tableofcontents[currentsection]
  \end{frame}
}

\setbeamertemplate{section in toc}{\protect\block{Research Question~\inserttocsectionnumber}\inserttocsection\protect\endblock}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{General Outline}
\tableofcontents
\end{frame}

\section[Section one title]{This is section description 1}
\begin{frame}
Contents of section one
\end{frame}

\section[Section two title]{This is a very long section description. This is a very long section description. This is a very long section description. This is a very long section description.}
\begin{frame}
Contents of section two
\end{frame}

\section[Section three title]{This is section description 3}
\begin{frame}
Contents of section three
\end{frame}

\end{document}

and some of the resulting frames showing the two first partial ToCs with the descriptions inside a block (current section with normal code and other section shaded as requested) and the headline with the titles:

enter image description here

enter image description here

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