Controlling Powerpoint from Delphi app

kc0fcp wrote:
> AFIK, Powerpoint knows nothing about my program. I don't know why the
> presentation pauses - it seems to be a built-in characteristic of PPT.
> I reviewed all the show setup options in PPT and didn't see anything
> about pausing for other windows, though.

Apparently, PowerPoint pauses when it loses focus. I've seen a couple of
recommendations to use PowerShow to solve that. It looks like overkill,
but it might be worth the money to not have to write a solution yourself.

http://officeone.mvps.org/powershow/powershow.html

On the other hand, maybe you could arrange for your program's window to
be always on top, and then redirect focus back to the PowerPoint window.
You'll have to find which window that is. Use WinSight of Spy++ to
figure out what PowerPoint's window class is, and use FindWindow in your
program to get a handle to that window. Then use SetFocus.

--
Rob

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.

Rob and all,

I solved the problem (with some help from MikeR on the progdigy.com
forum) by using a combination of making my window Topmost
(HWND_TOPMOST), and finding the the Powerpoint Show's handle to call
windows.SetForegroundWindow(h). That sets Powerpoint to foreground
with every timer tick of my program.

I'll paste the code below.

Thanks,

Tim.

--- In delphi-en%40yahoogroups.com">delphi-enyahoogroups.com, Rob Kennedy <rkennedy...> wrote:

> Apparently, PowerPoint pauses when it loses focus. ...
> On the other hand, maybe you could arrange for your program's window to
> be always on top, and then redirect focus back to the PowerPoint
window.
> You'll have to find which window that is. Use WinSight of Spy++ to
> figure out what PowerPoint's window class is, and use FindWindow in
your
> program to get a handle to that window. Then use SetFocus.
>
> --
> Rob
>

function EnumWindowsProc(wHandle: HWND; slT: TStringList): Bool;
stdcall; export;
var
Title, ClassName: array[0..255] of char;
begin
Result := True;
GetWindowText(wHandle, Title, 255);
GetClassName(wHandle, ClassName, 255);
if IsWindowVisible(wHandle) then
slT.Add(string(Title) + '^' + string(ClassName));
end;

procedure TForm1.UpdateClock(Sender: TObject);
Var
Xo, Yo, X, Y : Integer;
TimerStr : string;
StringListT : TStringList;
T_string,C_string,TC_string : string;
z,ix,sp : integer;
h: hwnd;

begin

with Self do {Form1,...}
SetWindowPos(Handle, // handle to window
HWND_TOPMOST, // placement-order handle {*}
Left, // horizontal position
Top, // vertical position
Width,
Height,
// window-positioning options
SWP_NOACTIVATE or SWP_NOMOVE or SWP_NOSIZE);

if not noPPT then begin
StringListT := TStringList.create;
try
Windows.EnumWindows(EnumWindowsProc, Integer(StringListT));

if DebugMode then begin
StringListT.SaveToFile('enum.txt');
DebugMode := False;
end;

ix := -1;
for Z := 0 to StringListT.count-1 do begin
sp := pos('PowerPoint Slide Show',StringListT[Z]);
if sp <> 0 then begin // found it
ix := Z;
break;
end;
end;

if ix <> -1 then begin
TC_String := StringListT[ix];

sp := pos('^',TC_String);
T_string := copy(TC_string,1,sp-1);
C_string := copy(TC_string,sp3;1,255);

h := Windows.FindWindow(pchar(C_STring),nil); // find
using class name from enum
if h<>0 then
windows.SetForegroundWindow(h)
else begin
noPPT := true;
// ShowMessage('FindWindow Failed: Is Powerpoint Show
Running?');
end
end {if ix}
else begin
// ShowMessage('Powerpoint Slide Show not found');
noPPT := true;
end;

finally
StringListT.Free;
end;
end; {if not noPPT}

TimerStr := FormatDateTime('n:ss',Countdown);

{ Set font properties }
Canvas.Font.Style:=[fsBold];
Canvas.Font.Name:='TimesNewRoman';

Canvas.Brush.Style:=bsSolid;

Canvas.Font.Size:=TextSize;
Canvas.Font.Color:=FGColor;

{ Set center point }
Xo:=Form1.Width Div 2;
Yo:=Form1.Height Div 2;

if ExtraTextMode then begin
X := Xo - (Canvas.TextWidth(ExtraText) div 2);
Y := Yo - (Canvas.TextHeight(ExtraText) + (TextMargin div 2));
{top of upper text is up by text height and half margin}
Canvas.TextOut(X,Y,ExtraText);
X := Xo - (Canvas.TextWidth(TimerStr) div 2);
Y := Yo + (TextMargin div 2); {top of lower text is half of
margin between two lines}
Canvas.TextOut(X,Y,TimerStr);
end
else begin
X := Xo - (Canvas.TextWidth(TimerStr) div 2);
Y := Yo - (Canvas.TextHeight(TimerStr) div 2);
Canvas.TextOut(X,Y,TimerStr);
end;

if Countdown <= 0 then with application do begin
Timer1.enabled := False;
Close; // quit program at count of 0
end;

End;

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