File Format

[Ajay Wanchoo]

I'd earlier asked whether I could save in the Power Point file format...
The MSDN docs are quite cryptic on this. Where do I start and where do I end
?
All I want to do is to save a bunch of simple graphics objects in the
powerpoint file format.
Any further advise on this subject ?

Thanx.
Ajay

[Austin Myers]

Ajay,

I'll try to answer this question but I'm afraid it's not as simple as you
might think. When PPT97 saves a graphic it compresses it. To my knowledge
MS has not disclosed the method of compression. The next problem is that
when PPT saves any slide object there is a LOT of information that is saved
with it. I.E. Where is it at on the slide, what are it's attributes, are
there animations associated with it, what is it's order in the slide, when
does it appear, is there custom controls attached, Etc., Etc... Even if all
you want to do is save the graphic with none of the above you must still
indicate all of this information in the file. Then to make it even tougher,
there are multiple file/object headers in the file. Each of these must be
correct before PPT will open the file. And finally, PPT encodes information
in the file describing such things as the version it was saved by, the total
editing time, the users name, date saved, Etc., Etc..

Now if any of these things are not exactly right or as they should be PPT
will simply refuse to open the file. So there realy isn't a "simple PPT
file format" that you could save a graphic to.

Hope this is of some help,

Austin Myers
Microsoft PowerPoint M.V.P. Team

Ajay Wanchoo wrote in message <72q1lg$3fj$1...@newsmonger.rutgers.edu>...