Can I Run a Small Visual Basic Program From PowerPoint

[JessiRight77]

Hello.

I am using PowerPoint 2002 to do a resume that opens links to some of
my school projects. I would like to open a small program written in
Visual Basic, so I chose "Run a Program" through the Action Settings.

The Visual Basic program opened and operated fine on my computer
(PowerPoint 2002 with Visual Studio program installed), and it also
works fine on my work computer (PowerPoint 2003 without Visual Studio
installed), but it does NOT work on the computer at school (PowerPoint
2003 without Visual Studio installed). I get an "Application Error"
that reads: "The application failed to initialize properly
(0xc0000135)."

Does anyone know how to fix this? I would really like to include it
on the resume, but don't want to run the risk of having a file that
won't open.

Thanks,
Jessi

 

[Robert Homes]

Jessi,

I am not an expert in your problem, but I have one suggestion you might look
into.Visual Basic programs require the VB "runtime" files to be on the
computer you are running the program from. If you Visual Studio isn't
installed, you have to at least get the runtime files onto the computer you
want to run the program from. The runtime files would change, depending on
which version of VB you used to create the program. This can get real
complicated....

You might want to check out the installation program Inno Setup, I think its
on the web site www.innosetup.com (but I'm not sure of the exact site name).
Or use the Microsoft tool to create your installation program, I think its
called the Package and Deployment Wizard. The idea is you have to create an
installation program (you could just call it setup.exe) to install your VB
program (along with the correct runtime files) on the computer to be used to
run the program.

You probably didn't want to hear about all these complications, but I think
this is the basic problem you are running into and the (complicated) way it
may have to be handled.

Another possibility is, instead of creating a full fledged VB program, to
create a VB script instead, that will run under Windows. That probably
wouldn't require all the VB runtime files, but only files available in
Windows itself.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Robert Homes
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Ute Simon]

I am using PowerPoint 2002 to do a resume that opens links to some of

my school projects. I would like to open a small program written in
Visual Basic, so I chose "Run a Program" through the Action Settings.

Jessi,

what are you trying to accomplish with that VB program? Maybe the same can
be achieved with PowerPoint's own VBA?

Kind regards,
Ute

 

[JessiRight77]

Thank you for your helpful suggestions.

Anything really complicated would be way over my head, so I think I'll
just put a disclaimer note on the slide "that the VB runtime files must
be installed in order to open the program." That would allay any
negative thoughts that the reviewer may have that my program didn't
work.

Ute... the program was just a sample to demonstrate that I have had
basic experience in programming in Visual Studio, so a powerpoint
substitute wouldn't work.

Thanks so much, guys!

P.S. Please disregard my second post. I posted this message last
night, but I got an error saying that it didn't go through (server was
busy, or something like that). So I posted another one this morning.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thank you for your helpful suggestions.

Anything really complicated would be way over my head, so I think I'll
just put a disclaimer note on the slide "that the VB runtime files must
be installed in order to open the program." That would allay any
negative thoughts that the reviewer may have that my program didn't
work.

Most computers will have the VB runtimes installed nowadays but MS provides a
simple one-EXE installer for either the VB5 or VB6 runtimes; you could
distribute or provide a link to those if you like.

VB6:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q192461/
VB5:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q180071/

 

[JessiRight77]

How does that work? Do I download the installer and put it in the
same folder as my PowerPoint files? How would it install if needed?

Thanks,
Jessi

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

How does that work? Do I download the installer and put it in the
same folder as my PowerPoint files? How would it install if needed?

Whoever needs the runtimes installed would have to run the appropriate EXE.

You might want to include instructions with the CD suggesting that if your link
to the external EXE (yours) doesn't work, the user should install the runtimes
by doubleclicking [filename.exe] in the [wherever you put it] folder of the CD.

Most people with PowerPoint or a recent version of Windows will have the VB5
and VB6 runtimes already. VB.Net will be less common