Remembering window size of a program launched with "Action Setting

[Paul G]

I am opening an htm file in IE with an "Action Settings" mouse click from
within a PowerPoint show. (Action Settings command: "Hyperlink to:") Every
time I do this IE opens in full screen mode and I have to resize it to a
window that properly shows the target file. How can I get it to remember the
desired window. When I open the same htm file in IE using a shortcut from
the desktop, IE remembers it last window size. How can I get it to do the
same from within PowerPoint? Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[Sonia]

Your best bet is to use LiveWeb. See http://skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com

 

[Paul G]

Sonia,

Many thanks for your input. I have read the liveweb link you provided and
remain unsure as to its applicability here. It seems like its primary
purpose is to allow the user to use a web site as a slide. That is not my
goal, so let me first be sure that I have explained my situation clearly. I
am running through a PowerPoint presentation, which is full screen. I come
to a slide upon which I have an image that has a mouse click "action setting"
embedded in it. When I click on that image, IE opens showing a "local host"
htm file, which is in reality a mockup of a web site. It is my intention
that this mockup open as a window on that slide, but currently when I do this
IE opens full screen, forcing me to resize it to show the mockup as it is
meant to appear. (Needless to say, not good in the middle of a
presentation.) And no matter how many times I have done this and closed the
window in its resized shape, it always opens full screen in my next
presentation. And even when I click the "window" button in the upper right
corner (next to the minimize button, ) the window does not return to the
windowed size that I had previously used, but to some random other window
size with which I have never worked. Is it your understanding that liveweb
will overcome this problem? I simply want IE to reliably open as it was
previously windowed and then close when I click on the X. Your further input
will be deeply appreciated.

 

[Sonia]

The best thing to do is try it - - it's free. I can't tell you whether you will
like it or not. It doesn't open in IE, but it is a very elegant and reliable
way to display web content from a presentation.

 

[Paul G]

Thanks again, Sonia. Unfortunately, for purposes of this presentation, it
needs to be in IE. Hopefully someone will know why IE behaves differently
when called from PowerPoint than when launched from the desktop. But thanks
for the tip. It might well come in handy in another context.

 

[Paul G]

Many thanks, Steve. Your suggestion is appreciated, but I'm afraid that it's
waaay over my head. Seems to me I remember BAT files from my DOS days, but I
have to admit that I would have no idea whatsoever how to implement what you
have suggested.

Paul

 

[Sonia]

Open NotePad and paste the two lines into a new file:

@echo off
start c:\path\to\yourfile.htm

Edit the second line to point to your HTML file. Point to the folder where your
presentation is stored and save the file as "test.bat". Open the presentation
in PowerPoint and link the object to the Bat file by going to Slide Show >
Action Settings > Hyperlink to > Other File. Save the presentation and run it
to test the link.

 

[Paul G]

Hi Sonia. Many thanks again for your attention. It really is appreciated.
I have two things to report. First, your instructions worked and Steve's
solution worked in a way, too, but it created other issues in the process.
Now I get a series of warning messages that I did not previously get and that
will clearly interrupt the flow of the PowerPoint presentation, and I have
not been able to defeat them. The first of them is from Office warning me
about viruses and asking if I would like to open the file. The second is the
IE "Information Bar" telling me that it has turned off ActiveX and Script and
asking me if I want to let them run. I have tried to change the security
settings to defeat this second interruption but without success, and the
ActiveX and Script functions are crucial to the mock site. Any thoughts?

And second (and perhaps more telling), I discovered something very peculiar
in this process, which is that the window sizing problem does NOT seem to
occur on my desktop, only on my laptop. They are both running the same
versions of XP and Office, which suggests to me that it really may be a
settings problem somewhere. Any thoughts on that?

All thoughts will be welcomed.

 

[Austin Myers]

Perhaps this will be of help.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...n-us/office97/html/usingwebbrowsercontrol.asp


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

 

[Paul G]

Thank you, Austin. Sorry it took me so long to respond to your suggestion;
I have been traveling and could not focus on this issue while away. Your
solution looks like it may have promise, but its implementation appears to be
over my head from a technical standpoint. I will see what I can find out,
however, and post an update. But either way, many thanks for the input.