> i need some help
> how do i get powerpoint slides to open up in director, and
> run as a seperate programme

hi Calog-

FWIW - using a descriptive subject in your postings like

  How do I open Powerpoint?

will generally yield better responses. <grin>

That said, this is a question that comes up here a lot, so here is
some info which may help you. There are 3 things to consider in
opening a Powerpoint file in Director:

1 - finding the full path to the PPT file on your CD or hard drive
2 - finding the full path to the PPT viewer on the target machine
3 - opening the viewer with the PPT file appropriately

If you ABSOLUTELY know 1 & 2, you can simply use the built-in Director
functionality:

 open xxx with yyy

And hey, if that works for you then you're home free.

Unfortunately, you will often know only item 1 with any moderate
certainty. The reasons for this is that the user may or may not have
installed the Powerpoint Viewer, and they can install it anywhere. To
find this information you will need to look in the system Registry.
Additionally, they may put your CD into a drive that may or may not be
one that you can guess the path to. Fun huh?

This problem is made simpler by using an Xtra to determine these
items. There are several Xtras available to help and MasterApp is one
such Xtra. The MasterApp Xtra contains a function specifically
designed for that purpose named

  mappLocateExecutable()

It returns the path to the executable registered to handle the
document at the file path specified. Once you know this information
you can open the PDF ising other MasterApp functions or even embed the
PPT file in your movie, as if it were a part of the movie.

Platforms: 32-bit Windows, Win 3.1, Mac
Director versions supported: Director 4,5,6,7,8, 8.5
Author: Glenn Picher

MasterApp gives you broad control over other applications from your
Director presentation. The most common application for MasterApp is
building connectivity between your Director piece and various Web
browsers and Web pages. However, MasterApp is much more powerful than
this basic use, including dozens of methods for launching, monitoring
and controlling external applications. MasterApp is a commercial Xtra
sold by UpdateStage. You find out more information, download an
evaluation version or purchase the Xtra here:

 http://www.updatestage.com/xtras/masterapp.html

There are also other Xtra solutions to control a variety of
applications available. You can search for them on the Mile High Table
O Products here:

 http://www.updatestage.com/products_table.html#App%20Control

I hope that this information is useful.

Cheers,

Al Hospers
Marketing Associate
UpdateStage
alhospers<at>updatestage<dot>com
http://www.updatestage.com



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