Some controls can't be activated
Lem
files). The presentation includes several animations that I *think* are
Shockwave objects. When the file is first loaded, there is this popup
error message: "Some controls on this presentation can't be activated.
They might not be registered on this computer." When I click on the
object to run the animation, PP merely advances to the next slide,
instead of running the Shockwave (or Flash, or whatever else it might
be) animation.
This behavior happens with this particular presentation on at least the
following systems: Windows XP sp3 running Powerpoint 2003 sp3; Vista
sp2 running Powerpoint 2003 sp3; and Windows 7 running Powerpoint 2007.
The Vista and Windows 7 also pop up a warning about security level,
but I don't have those either of those computers at the moment, so I
can't give the exact error.
On the XP box, the Adobe test page shows that Shockwave 11.5.6r606 is
properly installed. Likewise, Flash 10,0,45,2 is properly installed.
How do I determine what controls PP is complaining about and go about
"registering" them? Or is this something that the author of the
presentation needs to do? In the latter case, what do I need to tell
him to do?
--
Lem
a1k1do via OfficeKB.com
Although you may have upgraded your Adobe Flash player within your browser IE
or Firefox etc, Powerpoint might continued to hold on to the old flash
version. Although you might have upgraded your flash player within Internet
Explorer, Powerpoint might not seem didn’t seem to register it. Instead it
was could still be using an older flash player and therefore you will
continue get the message: Some controls on this presentation can’t be
activated. They might not be registered on this computer. You will need
manually perform a flash uninstall and a fresh reinstall.
Uninstalling Your Flash Player
For additional details about uninstalling your flash player, I recommend you
refer to this article:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html
Next, you will need to launch Internet Explorer and go to the adobe website.
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
In some cases, you may want to manually download the installer for use
offline. Consider going to this site and downloading the flash player
installer for manual installations.
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/
Hope it helps
--
Message posted via OfficeKB.com
http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/powerpoint/201005/1
Lem
Good thought, but NOT the solution.
I downloaded and ran the Flash Player uninstaller from Adobe and then
rebooted. I checked the folder where the the Flash Player files had been
located (%windir%\system32\Macromed\Flash) and nothing was left.
Moreover, Secunia PSI, which had picked up the presence of old versions
of both Flash Player and Shockwave hanging around even though Firefox
and IE reported the latest versions, no longer showed the old versions.
I then downloaded and installed the latest Flash Player. I checked in
both Firefox and IE and confirmed that the latest version was installed.
I opened the ppt file and got the same error message. The symptoms I
described earlier are still present.
For good measure, I also uninstalled Shockwave Player. I made the same
checks, and it indeed was completely gone. I downloaded and installed
the latest Shockwave Player. The ppt error is still there.
Any other suggestions?
--
Lem
Apollo 11 - 40 years ago:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html
a1k1do via OfficeKB.com
file, it relies on other assets (xtras etc) that would need to be co-located
with the ppt in question. My only other thought would be to run script to
extract the embedded swf (flash) files if that’s what they are.
Good luck
Lem wrote:
>Good thought, but NOT the solution.
>
>I downloaded and ran the Flash Player uninstaller from Adobe and then
>rebooted. I checked the folder where the the Flash Player files had been
>located (%windir%\system32\Macromed\Flash) and nothing was left.
>Moreover, Secunia PSI, which had picked up the presence of old versions
>of both Flash Player and Shockwave hanging around even though Firefox
>and IE reported the latest versions, no longer showed the old versions.
>
>I then downloaded and installed the latest Flash Player. I checked in
>both Firefox and IE and confirmed that the latest version was installed.
>
>I opened the ppt file and got the same error message. The symptoms I
>described earlier are still present.
>
>For good measure, I also uninstalled Shockwave Player. I made the same
>checks, and it indeed was completely gone. I downloaded and installed
>the latest Shockwave Player. The ppt error is still there.
>
>Any other suggestions?
>
>> This relates to an old version of Adobe Flash player on you computer.
>> Although you may have upgraded your Adobe Flash player within your browser IE
>[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
>>> presentation needs to do? In the latter case, what do I need to tell
>>> him to do?
>
--
Message posted via http://www.officekb.com
Steve Rindsberg
suggesting that the shockwave object in PowerPoint may be asking for a version of
the player that's not installed on your PC.
It seems odd that the newer player wouldn't register itself as the new "owner" of
stuff intended for the older player but it's always possible.
Removing the player from your pc and reinstalling (unless you were able to find
and install the version it's after) wouldn't help. Installing the latest one
when the SWF is insisting on an older version won't get you there, if this is
indeed the cause.
One of us could cobble you up a little macro that'd look at each OLE object and
give you a little info about it. That might help you narrow things down.
Perhaps it's not a shockwave object at all.
==============================
PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/
PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/
Lem
apparently, this problem is not unique to me. I could upload the ppt to
Skydrive, but it's pretty big (11.4 MB).
The organization that supplied the CD with the Powerpoint presentation
including the following on its website. I tried the suggestion and it
didn't help, but the version numbers below suggest that you may be on to
something. The ppt file was created on 12/15/08 so it almost certainly
uses an old version of flash/shockwave/whatever. The current version of
the Flash activeX plugin is Flash10e.ocx
<quote>
> PowerPoint/Flash Problems
>
> If you have been trying to use PowerPoint for one of our courses or seminars and receive the error message "Some controls on this presentation can't be activated. They may not be registered on your computer.", try the following few steps from Microsoft Tech Services that should help resolve the problem:
>
> The error message you are seeing is usually related to a flash OCX file not being properly registered on your computer. You could try the following to resolve your issue:
>
> 1.
> Quit PowerPoint.
> 2.
> Run the following command (using Start -> in the start search box, type in the following command):
> regsvr32.exe "C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash\Flash.ocx"
>
> Note that the exact path may vary and the command should be applied to any of the following files that exist in the noted directory:
>
> * flash.ocx
> * flash8.ocx
> * flash9.ocx
</quote>
>>> Explorer, Powerpoint might not seem didn�t seem to register it. Instead it
>>> was could still be using an older flash player and therefore you will
>>> continue get the message: Some controls on this presentation can�t be
Steve Rindsberg
Start a new presentation
Press Alt+F11 to open the VBA editor
Insert a new module
Copy/Paste the code below into the module
Open your problem presentation
Go back to the VB editor, put your cursor within the code you pasted in
Press Ctrl+G if the IMMEDIATE window's not visible
Press F5 to run the code
Look in the immediate window for the results
You'll get a list of slide numbers and the "ProgID"
or Program ID of each OLE object on each slide in the pressie.
That may give you a hint as to which is causing the issue.
Sub ReportObjectProgIDs()
' Press Ctrl+G to open the IMMEDIATE window
' in the VBA editor
' Results will be displayed there
Dim oSl As Slide
Dim oSh As Shape
For Each oSl In ActivePresentation.Slides
For Each oSh In oSl.Shapes
If oSh.Type = msoLinkedOLEObject _
Or oSh.Type = msoEmbeddedOLEObject Then
Debug.Print oSl.SlideIndex & _
vbtab & oSh.OLEFormat.ProgID
End If
Next ' Shape
Next ' Slide
End Sub
> >>> Explorer, Powerpoint might not seem didn�t seem to register it. Instead it
> >>> was could still be using an older flash player and therefore you will
> >>> continue get the message: Some controls on this presentation can�t be
Lem
complete output that appeared in the IMMEDIATE window:
26 Photoshop.Image.8
27 Photoshop.Image.8
27 Photoshop.Image.8
There are 42 slides in the problem presentation. I *think* that slides
26 and 27 are supposed to have some kind of "effect" that doesn't seem
to be working quite properly, but it's not the type of animation that I
originally was concerned with. Slide 9 is the first slide in the
presentation that has that type of "problem animation."
I modified your code a little to get some more info. For each shape in
Slide 9, I printed oSh.Name and oSh.Type. Here's the output, but I don't
know what to make of it:
Slide Index is 9
Shape Name is Slide Number Placeholder 5
Shape Type is 17
Shape Name is Object 10
Shape Type is 13
Shape Name is Rectangle 2
Shape Type is 14
Shape Name is Text Box 8
Shape Type is 17
Shape Name is Line 9
Shape Type is 9
Shape Name is ShockwaveFlash1
Shape Type is 12
>>>>> Explorer, Powerpoint might not seem didn�t seem to register it. Instead it
>>>>> was could still be using an older flash player and therefore you will
>>>>> continue get the message: Some controls on this presentation can�t be
Lem
First, if I View > Toolbars > Control Toolbox and then click on the
"More Controls" button, both "Shockwave Active X Control" and "Shockwave
Flash Object" are listed.
Second, when I right click on the area of the slide that has what is
supposed to be the animation and select "Properties," the properties
window that pops up is entirely empty. There also is an entry in that
context menu named "Shockwave Flash Object Object". That leads to a
submenu with two entries, "Edit" (which is active) and "Convert" (which
is greyed out). Clicking on "Edit" results in the error message "An
error occurred during creation of an ActiveX control."
It seems as if the author of this presentation has been a bit too
tricky. A person connected with the author told me that there should
have been a *.mwv file or files (which he said was "wave files")
associated with the presentation. He said that "the PPT goes out and
looks for the mwv file so if they are in different locations (files)
they can not connect." There was no such mwv file on the CD that I was
given; I'm looking for it. Is it possible that the Flash movie is not
embedded in the presentation but somehow linked to an external file?
Shouldn't I at least be able to see the reference to such a file?
>>>>> Explorer, Powerpoint might not seem didn�t seem to register it. Instead it
>>>>> was could still be using an older flash player and therefore you will
>>>>> continue get the message: Some controls on this presentation can�t be
Steve Rindsberg
> Here's some more information.
>
> First, if I View > Toolbars > Control Toolbox and then click on the
> "More Controls" button, both "Shockwave Active X Control" and "Shockwave
> Flash Object" are listed.
>
> Second, when I right click on the area of the slide that has what is
> supposed to be the animation and select "Properties," the properties
> window that pops up is entirely empty. There also is an entry in that
> context menu named "Shockwave Flash Object Object". That leads to a
> submenu with two entries, "Edit" (which is active) and "Convert" (which
> is greyed out). Clicking on "Edit" results in the error message "An
> error occurred during creation of an ActiveX control."
>
> It seems as if the author of this presentation has been a bit too
> tricky. A person connected with the author told me that there should
> have been a *.mwv file or files (which he said was "wave files")
> associated with the presentation. He said that "the PPT goes out and
> looks for the mwv file so if they are in different locations (files)
> they can not connect."
WMV rather than MWV, I expect, but that'd be a linked movie, not a shockwave object, I'd
expect. But the fact that it's an ActiveX control rather than the Shockwave Flash Object
(the normal way to insert flash) suggests that you've located the problem.
The Active X control is, I'm guessing, something only someone licensed to use it can make
use of, not something that should be used for distributing flash. They should be using
the Shockwave Flash Object.
So nice detective work ... I think you've nailed it.
> >>>>> Explorer, Powerpoint might not seem didn�t seem to register it. Instead it
> >>>>> was could still be using an older flash player and therefore you will
> >>>>> continue get the message: Some controls on this presentation can�t be
Steve Rindsberg
This might help a bit more:
Sub ReportObjectProgIDs()
' Press Ctrl+G to open the IMMEDIATE window
' in the VBA editor
' Results will be displayed there
Dim oSl As Slide
Dim oSh As Shape
For Each oSl In ActivePresentation.Slides
For Each oSh In oSl.Shapes
If oSh.Type = msoLinkedOLEObject _
Or oSh.Type = msoEmbeddedOLEObject Then
Debug.Print oSl.SlideIndex & _
vbTab & oSh.OLEFormat.ProgID
End If
If oSh.Type = msoOLEControlObject Then
Debug.Print oSl.SlideIndex & _
vbTab & oSh.Name & _
vbTab & oSh.OLEFormat.Object.Movie & _
vbTab & oSh.OLEFormat.Object.MovieData
End If
Next ' Shape
Next ' Slide
End Sub
If you rightclick on the flash object and choose Properties you'll get a list of some
of the other stuff you can look at by tacking their names onto:
oSh.OLEFormat.Objext.
I don't see anything that gives the required/expected Shockwave object version though.
> >>>>> Explorer, Powerpoint might not seem didn�t seem to register it. Instead it
> >>>>> was could still be using an older flash player and therefore you will
> >>>>> continue get the message: Some controls on this presentation can�t be
Lem
presentation, it threw a runtime error: Method 'Object' of object
'OLEFormat' failed. Run-time error '-2147467259 (80004005)'
But it's not your code that's the problem. When I inserted a Shockwave
object into a new ppt file and made that the active presentation, the
code worked exactly as expected.
The run-time error no doubt is related to the fact that, as I noted in
an earlier post, the mystery object that calls itself ShockwaveFlash has
no properties.
It's time to go back to the author of the presentation.
>>>>>>> Explorer, Powerpoint might not seem didn�t seem to register it. Instead it
>>>>>>> was could still be using an older flash player and therefore you will
>>>>>>> continue get the message: Some controls on this presentation can�t be
Steve Rindsberg
> It's time to go back to the author of the presentation.
>
Sure sounds that way to me. Let us know what you find out, ok?