FlashPPT

Insert Flash in Pre-PowerPoint 2007

I have already created a multi-step process tutorial for inserting Flash movies in a PowerPoint slide that is suitable for users of PowerPoint versions earlier (and not including) PowerPoint 2007. Here’s a sequenced list of those instructions:

1. Getting Started With These Four
2. Assemble Everything
3. Insert the Control
4. Edit the Control Properties

Filed Under: Insert

What is VBA?

VBA stands for Visual Basic for Applications, and is a programming language subset of Microsoft Visual Basic. It allows to control several options in programs that support VBA.

Most Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint work with VBA.

You really don’t need to learn a lot of VBA to make things happen. Sometimes, you can just paste a snippet of VBA to make miracles happen!

For example, you can rewind your Flash movies in PowerPoint slides using some VBA.

Filed Under: VBA

Rewind a Flash Movie?

Why would you want to rewind a Flash movie placed in a PowerPoint slide? That’s because in certain scenarios, the Flash movie you insert might not play right from the beginning of the movie:

• When the Flash movie plays for the first time you present the slide, it plays right from the beginning. But if you proceed to the next slide (or any other slide) in the PowerPoint presentation before the Flash movie has finished playing , it just stalls the Flash movie and moves on. Get back to the slide that contains the Flash movie again, and it plays from where it got stalled.
• Or maybe you are viewing the slide that contains the Flash movie, and then exit the presentation. Of course you haven’t shut down PowerPoint altogether, and you reopen the presentation and play the slide that contains the Flash movie. Again, the Flash movie plays from where it got stalled.

These issues may not be very troublesome if you inserted a static Flash movie, or even a Flash movie that plays for a very small duration. In other scenarios, this can be downright irritating!

Fortunately, you can automatically rewind these movies. There are two ways to do that:

1. You can get over this problem by inserting a little VBA code, and this is easy to do if you follow this tutorial…
2. Or you could get a free PowerPoint add-in called FlashBack, which does this automatically for you.

Remember: The stalled Flash movie problem does not happen if you shut down PowerPoint altogether, and then launch it again.

Filed Under: Insert, Rewind

Edit the Control Properties

Now that you have inserted the control, it’s time to bring in the Flash movie within the control. You need two things:

1. A PowerPoint slide with the Shockwave Flash control inserted.
2. A Flash movie placed in the same folder as your PowerPoint presentation.

And of course, if you don’t have a sample Flash movie, get it here…

Get started with editing the control properties:

1. Right-click the control and choose Properties (see Figure 1).

   
   Figure 1: Access the properties
   

2. This will bring up the Properties window that you can see in Figure 2. Select the (Custom) option so that you can see the three ellipses (…) towards the right — click on these ellipses. If you don’t find the (Custom) option, ignore these steps, and proceed to Step 6.

   
   Figure 2: Properties window
   

3. This will bring up the Property Pages dialog box that you can see in Figure 3. If this dialog box covers your Flash control or the slide, you can move it away a little.

   
   Figure 3: Property Pages dialog box
   

4. In the Movie URL text box, type the name of the Flash SWF file that you placed in the same folder as the presentation. You can also type an entire web URL within this text box if you want to access a SWF live from the Internet. Check the Play option, and do check the Embed option too (unless you typed in a web URL in the Movie URL text box). There are several other options in this dialog box that you can tweak as required, but do remember that the Background Color option makes no difference!
5. Click OK to get back to the slide and play the presentation. Once you play the presentation you may want to resize and reposition the inserted control.
6. Not applicable for everybody: If you branched out from Step 2, select the Movie option in the Properties dialog box, and type the name of your Flash SWF (see Figure 4) — no path is required since we already placed everything (the presentation and the SWF) in the same folder. Also change the EmbedMovie option to True.

   
   Figure 4: Properties window

7. Save the presentation.

Maybe you don’t want to make any more changes, or you might want your Flash movies rewound after playing. Or maybe you don’t want to follow so many steps, and prefer an automated one-click process. I’ll cover all these issues soon.

Filed Under: Flash, Insert, PowerPoint

Insert the Control (pre PowerPoint 2007)

I’m assuming you have all the prerequisites in place, and have assembled everything in one folder.

And yes, I’m assuming you are running a pre-2007 version of PowerPoint such as version 97, 2000, 2002 (XP), or 2003.

Now it’s the time to insert a control placeholder for the Flash movie:

1. Make sure the Control Toolbox is visible. If you cannot find it (refer to Figure 1), choose View | Toolbars | Control.

   
   Figure 1: View the Control Toolbox

   Note: Remember this is a toogle option. If you have the Control Toolbox already visible, you’ll just hide it by clicking this option again.

2. Figure 2 shows you the Control Toolbox palette. The bottom right icon in the palette is the More Controls option.

   
   Figure 2: More Controls

3. Click this icon to view the list of ActiveX controls installed in your system, as shown in Figure 3. If your list of controls is different from the ones shown in the screenshot, don’t worry as long as you have the Shockwave Flash Object control available. Select this option.

   
   Figure 3: Select the Shockwave Flash Object control

   Note: If you don’t find the Shockwave Flash Object control listed, you need to install that from the Adobe Flash site — refer to the Get Started with these Four section.

4. Once you select this control, your cursor changes to a cross-hair. Drag onto an area of the slide where you want the Flash movie inserted. This area will be represented by a checked box as shown in Figure 4.

   
   Figure 4: The placed Shockwave Flash Object control

5. Now that you have placed the control, you need to edit the properties of the control to insert the Flash movie. This is what I’ll show you next…

Filed Under: Insert