ActiveX Control Issues in Powerpoint

[spudmachine]

Comrades,
I've been embedded various ActiveX stuff into Powerpoint lately and come
across an oddity.

The two controls are from Crystal Xcelsius, and the Free Flash Slideshows.

http://www.dsi.uniroma1.it/~caminiti/slideshows/ (These are BEAUTIFUL, by
the way).

http://www.xcelsius.com/Products/XL_products.html

Both applications embed Flash into Powerpoint as ActiveX controls.

On one particular PC - my laptop (Windows XP MCE SP2, Powerpoint 2003, Flash
Player 9), I get the error "Some controls on this presentation cannot be
activated", and the object fails to display properly.

When I tracked down this error for Xcelsius, the suggested fix was to
install Flash Player 9, but I already use that version (I re-installed it
and rebooted just in case), and it didn't fix the problem.

The problem seemed to be with Powerpoint, because when I embed the Xcelsius
object into PDF files and Words docs, they display correctly on the
offending laptop.

Then I found that a number of my colleagues, with a variety of PCs, have
exactly the same problem displaying the Xcelsius objects in Powerpoint.

I've posted on the Xcelsius support forum, but judging by the dates on the
other posts it could be weeks before they answer, so I thought I'd see if
anyone here had some ideas on this. Sorry if it's somewhat orthogonal, but
it does involve Powerpoint

Then the other day, on my laptop I happened to be browsing a news website (I
use Firefox) and a status bar appeared to inform me that I needed to install
an ActiveX control in order to view this content (which was identified as
ShockWave Flash). I installed the control and it was only later I thought
about the Xcelsius problem.

Sure enough - Xcelsius now displays correctly in Powerpoint on my laptop -
so problem solved!

Actually no. I don't know how to solve the problem for my colleagues who
also can't view the Xcelsius material. How do I trigger the same ActiveX
control installation on their PCs? I forgot which page triggered the
installation on my PC, and it hardly seems ideal to tell them to go to a
news website! Surely there must be a simpler way.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi Geoff,

A bit tangential, but I've run into something vaguely related. I think.
Maybe.

Got in a presentation that included Flash inserted as a SwiffPoint Player
object. Those only work if the SwiffPoint player's installed on the PC. It
wawsn't here, so I got the same message about a needed control not being
installed.

That bit's rational. What happened next was not.

I was trying to test the way an add-in works with embedded Flash (ie,
Shockwave) objects, so the next step was to embed one and do further tests.

I could add the object, but when I brought up the properties page to set the
file and so forth, it was blank. No properties to set.

Urk.

So on a hunch, I deleted the Swiff object and tried again with an embedded
Shockwave object. Bingo. All ok now.

So I'm wondering if some of what you're seeing might be similar side effects of
a badly behaved control. Maybe. FWIW.

ANYHOW ....

Is this the pup you need:

http://www.adobe.com/products/shockwaveplayer/

 

[spudmachine]

Hi Steve,

I don't think is is the Shockwave player. I followed the link you gave, (
DID NOT INSTALL SHOCKWAVE) and kept clicking until I got to a page with an
example Shockwave object.

I see the usual "jigsaw piece" icon and "click here to download plugin"
message.

But I'm using the laptop that now plays the Xcelsius object correctly in
Powerpoint. So presumably if Xcelsius need Shockwave, and Xcelsius works on
this laptop, it would imply that Shockwave must already be installed on the
laptop.

But Shockwave isn't installed on the laptop, so Xcelsius can't need
Shockwave. Gosh - does that makes sense

Anyhoo. The Xcelsius site seems to indicate that it's Flash, and not
Shockwave, that's needed.

This seems very peculiar to me. Xcelsius seems to have been going for some
time. They claim that you don't need to install Xcelsius on a PC to view
it, but so many of my colleagues see this error.

I have a feeling it's a problem caused by Flash 9.

Whatever version of Flash is installed on the author PC (ie. the PC where
the Xcelsius creator package is installed), this is the version of player
that's needed on the target PC. Most browsers are pre-Flash 9 by default.
But I can't understand why it doesn't display on PCs where Flash 9 has been
installed.

Oh well, thanks for the suggestion. I guess I'll have to wait and see if
the Xcelsius support folks monitor their forums (no sign of that as yet
-) ).

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi Steve,

I don't think is is the Shockwave player. I followed the link you gave, (
DID NOT INSTALL SHOCKWAVE) and kept clicking until I got to a page with an
example Shockwave object.

I see the usual "jigsaw piece" icon and "click here to download plugin"
message.

But I'm using the laptop that now plays the Xcelsius object correctly in
Powerpoint. So presumably if Xcelsius need Shockwave, and Xcelsius works on
this laptop, it would imply that Shockwave must already be installed on the
laptop.

If Xcelsius needs Shockwave, yes. I don't have it, so don't know.

But Shockwave isn't installed on the laptop, so Xcelsius can't need
Shockwave. Gosh - does that makes sense

Ah. Yes, it does makes sense. To me, at least.
Be afraid.

Anyhoo. The Xcelsius site seems to indicate that it's Flash, and not
Shockwave, that's needed.

This seems very peculiar to me. Xcelsius seems to have been going for some
time. They claim that you don't need to install Xcelsius on a PC to view
it, but so many of my colleagues see this error.

I have a feeling it's a problem caused by Flash 9.

Whatever version of Flash is installed on the author PC (ie. the PC where
the Xcelsius creator package is installed), this is the version of player
that's needed on the target PC. Most browsers are pre-Flash 9 by default.
But I can't understand why it doesn't display on PCs where Flash 9 has been
installed.

Got a file with a single slide, one Xcelsiusthingie on it?
I'd be happy to have a look and see if I can shed any further confusion and
cathair on the issue. ;-)

steve at-sign pptools dot com