Loading Add-ins

[Roderick O'Regan]

I'm using PP97 and upwards.

Is there a way of programatically loading and Add-in when I open a
particular PP file or new template, please? I cannot seem to find an answer
in any of the PP sites I have visited.

I don't want users going to Tools|Add-ins etc and loading it manually.

Thanks for any help.

Rory O'Regan

 

[Brian Reilly, MS MVP]

Rory,
Yes,
Don't give up. Steve Rindsberg will be along as soon as he finishes
his sushi and explain about this.

Brian Reilly, PowerPoint MVP

 

[Shyam Pillai]

You can learn about the locations where you need the register the add-in for
it to load automatically on this page:
http://www.mvps.org/skp/ppafaq.htm

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Is there a way of programatically loading and Add-in when I open a

particular PP file or new template, please? I cannot seem to find an answer
in any of the PP sites I have visited.

I'm not sure what Brian had in mind, but maybe I'm just grumpy 'cause nobody
fed me sushi tonight.

PowerPoint won't automatically load or run code as the result of opening a PPT
file or template on its own.

In 2000 and up if you have an addin loaded to handle events, it can call other
code or load an addin programatically.

I don't want users going to Tools|Add-ins etc and loading it manually.

An installer program can create the necessary registry entries to get an addin
to load w/o the user having to mess with it.

Let us know what you're actually trying to accomplish here. Maybe there are
other possibilities.

 

[Roderick O'Regan]

S-u-s-h-i? Is there an emoticon for "yukkk!"? Sorry, I know it's dear to
your heart (and stomach...) but I'm not entirely partial to it myself. Hope
you enjoyed it. But to business and a requested explanation...

A client of mine wants me to create a PP template which will be distributed
to about 300 users scattered about the country. They will also download a
whole bunch of designer backgrounds that they will place on different slides
and controlled by macros to change them. Client says that users are not very
PP-literate and wants them "spoonfed".

I therefore want to create a menu of macros which will change these plus a
few other macros for changing bullet shapes and their colours as well as
other selected object fills. Looking at the sites found I think I can create
these using the example code.

The add-in will also be downloaded with all of the above backgrounds as well
as the template. The cunning plan was then something along the lines that
when the user called the template or any presentations based upon it (as in
Word) the add-in would load for macro work and then unload when said
documents were closed.

I believe from what you say, and what I have read, that I will have to
convince my client not to underestimate his users' intelligence and let them
manually add the add-in by using some guide sheet instructions. After all, I
suppose it will only be needed to be done once as it writes to the registry
to load every time PP is run.

Thanks also to Brian and Shyam for their help.

Kind regards

Rory O'Regan

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

S-u-s-h-i? Is there an emoticon for "yukkk!"? Sorry, I know it's dear to
your heart (and stomach...) but I'm not entirely partial to it myself.

Delighted to hear it! That leaves more for me!

My guess is that you'll want to create some kind of standalone installer
package that'll let the users just run a program that handles all the details
of installing the templates and so forth.

From there, it's a short simple hop to letting the same installer program
install your add-in automatically. It's really not much more than setting a
few registry entries and copying a few files. Any decent installer app can do
that.

Most of them also create uninstallers that allow your users to remove all the
goodies on demand.