Finding if the PowerPoint installation support PPTX editing

[RAHUL]

Hi All,

In my VC++ application I need to find out if the current PowerPoint
setup support opening PPTX file (i.e. the Converter pack is installed
along with Office SP3, the combination which allow you to edit and
save PPTX files with PP 2003).

For this I was thinking of checking the PowerPoint version > 11.5 and
see if the Converter pack is installed. but am not sure how foolproof
this method is. Are there any patches to PowerPoint 2003 which also
enable it to edit PPTX but does not upgrade PowerPoint version.

I also tried to retrieve PowerPoint.Version through VBA in my setup
(PP 2003 with Office SP3) , but it gave me 11.0 (but Help -> About
PowerPoint shows 11.8169.8221... SP3").
Is there any way to get this specific version info using VBA.

Is there any other approach for finding out the same?

Thanks & Regards
Rahul

 

[RAHUL]

The version won't change; the .Build will ... that's the 8169 portion.  

I don't know whether installing the converter pack changes the build
number though.  

I don't have an Office 2003 install with converter pack handy to test
with, but couldn't you try to save a test file as PPTX, trap any error
that results to see if it's caused by the app not being able to save in
that format?

Hi Steve,

Thats what I am doing presently, Am trying to open a PPTX file with
PowerPoint inside my OLE container. if it throws an exception I
display an error message "your PowerPoint installation does not
support PPTX". I was just wondering if I can determine this by just
checking the build number and availability of converter pack, so that
I do not have to load an additional DLL in my project which try
opening the file with PowerPoint.

Thanks
Rahul

 

[RAHUL]

I'd suggest this:

You post on Public.PowerPoint asking people to post their Powerpoint
versions for different versions of PPT, SP level and with/without the
compat. pack.

It'd be a useful bit of information for this and other reasons.  I'll help
compile the results and post on the PPT FAQ.

I got this website which boasts of listing all patches/updates for
powerpoint
http://www.appdeploy.com/software/browse.asp?p=1&a=&c=&k=Microsoft PowerPoint

The info looks useful. need to find out when did PP 2003 started
supporting editing a PPTX.