Autoplay - Power Point Viewer (problems with hyperlinks)

[Oleg]

Hi,

I am trying to automatically run a PowerPoint presentation using Autoplay and PowerPoint viewer from the CD.

This work is based on the article of HOWTO: Run the PowerPoint Viewer Directly from a CD-ROM, which I found in the local knowledge database.

I followed all the steps and everything worked, except the hyperlinks to local files (Word documents). It just keeps giving me the same error. It says "The address of this site is not valid. Check the address and try again". The funny thing is if I don't pass the name of the PowerPoint file to the viewer and open the file manually, everything is just fine.

Could you please tell me how to get around this bug, so I can run the presentation automatically.

Thanks in advance.

[Corey]

Re: Autoplay - Power Point Viewer (problems with hyperlinks)

Hi.

OK if the links are relative then just put the files together, i.e. let's say one document links to another directly, as long as they are both side by side in the distribution folder the links should be fine. Or for example let's say powerpoint has a link like "/docs/myFile.doc" then you would need to create a folder called "docs" in your distribution folder and place myFile.doc inside that. I hope that is explained well enough to understand...

If the links are not relative but are absolute, i.e. C:\windows\desktop\myFile.doc then you will have to include the file myFile.doc in your distribution folder and, using a FILE > COPY action, create a copy of it at the correct location at runtime.

Hope that helps.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Oleg]

Re: Autoplay - Power Point Viewer (problems with hyperlinks)

Thank you for your reply. I see what you mean.

To the best of my knowledge all the hyperlinks in my PPT file are relative. All the referenced files are also located in the same distribution folder. So the problem persists...

As a matter of fact when I move the referenced file to a different folder and try to access it while running the presentation, it gives me a message about the file being missing.

Thus, I think the viewer finds the file referenced but for some reason doesn't want to process it.

As I mentioned before, if I keep the files where they are, but do not provide the name of the PPT file to the viewer, so it makes me select one manually, all the hyperlinks function properly and I successfully open my Word document referenced via the hyperlink. For some reason it is not the case when I pass the arguments from the Autoplay.

[Corey]

Re: Autoplay - Power Point Viewer (problems with hyperlinks)

Well if you're saying that FILE > OPEN to open your PPT in viewer works differently than if you open PPT in viewer manually then I'm not sure what to say, maybe one of the dev guys can take over...

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[rhosk]

Re: Autoplay - Power Point Viewer (problems with hyperlinks)

This could be part of your problem. PowerPoint won't do "relative" links.

http://www.indezine.com/products/pow...tml#PathPerils

One thing I would suggest (depending on your plans for distribution, because CD-ROM drive letters differ) is to put the files (Word Docs) you want to open on the CD first. Then use those links. But, this really isn't a viable solution unless you will be doing everything local. Hope this helps.