Automation interface: fill color

[Joseph M. Newcomer]

I have a program which picks up an RGB color triple. The problem right now is that if I
want to use that triple in PowerPoint, I have to select an object, select fill, more fill
colors, custom colors, and type the color triple in by hand. I've gotten tired of this.

Therefore, I want to modify my program to do the following:

If I switch to it from a PowerPoint presentation, I will somehow be able to map the
former-thread notification I get from WM_ACTITVATEAPP message to a particular PowerPoint
presentation that I was looking at (and if it isn't a PowerPoint presentation, then I will
note that).

In addition, I will have a menu item or dropdown that lets me select a particular
PowerPoint presentation that is open (see above: default would be the presentation from
which I just switched).

If a PowerPoint presentation is known, additional menu items will be enabled.

One menu item will be "Set fill color", and if enabled, it will set the fill color. So
what I can do is switch back to PPT, select some objects (usually one), and click the Fill
button, and I will get the currently-selected fill color (which my program has set)

One menu item will be "Fill Object". It will be enabled if there is a selection, and if
there is a selection, my program will set the fill color property for the selected
object(s).

Since I wrote the PowerPoint Indexer program, I have a fair amount of experience talking
to a PPT app, but given the marginal quality of the VBA documentation (basically, it
sucks), I'm not sure how to proceed at this point (yes, I just spent nearly an hour
reading it!)

If there's anyone still on this NG that has some suggestions (and I can translate VB code
to C++/MFC without problem, by the way), I'd appreciate the help.

For those who are curious, the two programs I've mentioned are

http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm#PowerPoint%20Indexing%20Tool
http://www.flounder.com/a_better_zoomin.htm

the goal is to be able to pick up a color from anywhere on the screen (not necessarily
from the presentation itself) and use it as a fill color.
TIA
joe
Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: newc...@flounder.com
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm