Digital Workshop

http://www.live.interaktiv.co.uk/index. ... Itemid=166

A DLL with some useful functions (more to be added). Includes:

Ability to download a file from the net to a local folder using Opus.

Ability to save an image held in the clipboard as a local JPEG using Opus.

Example IMP is v7 but call function code is included in the scribble article.

Mack

P.S Need to include a big thanks to Dave (DW) for the point in the right direction.

Mack,

I'll keep an eye on this down the road... may have some use for it. Thx.

Some ideas:
-- maybe you could work in a nifty API for JAWS? (although too bad jaws itself is so verbose)
-- encryption... if you include that, be aware here in U.S. we have restrictions what we can ship internationally vis-a-vis 'strong encryption' (so if all features +encryption are in one DLL, may preclude me from deploying at all)

Cheers.

Cheers Lar,

The .net framework has built in encryption - so I'd just use that.

I've updated the DLL to include the following if people want to play:

1. acrobat reader version checker.

2. file launcher - yes I know opus has one. This uses the default application for a given type and solves the PowerPoint PPS launch problem.

3. check association - checks to see if a file type is in use.

4. assign association - allows you to add your own file type and icon - code only. USE WITH CARE. There are no note for this function yet but if you look at the example and then check your registry, you'll see what it does. AGAIN USE WITH CARE - preferably in a virtual box. It should be used with #3 to ensure you don't overwrite your types. You've been warned!!

I'll hopefully package this with a default prerequisite of .net 2.0 by the end of next month so it should work out of the box. For now you'll have to manually install .net 2.0 if your XP

Mack

Further to a couple of queries, I've added an IsAdmin() function to the DLL. As ideally, I see this project mainly for W7, this is a small but mighty function that will allow you to check whether the user of the publication has admin rights and thus avoid the pitfalls of W7 Virtual Store.

We've also, at last, finished (or nearly) several of our other commercial DLL projects including:

1. Speech - allows TTS from XP - W7 with no additional installs.

2. Image Slice - an image manipulation DLL, that allows images to be converted, irregular segments sliced out, resizing and properties.

3. Audio Recorder - Select a recording device (such a microphone) and save the stream.

I'll try and get them on to our site asap, but if your interested and they're not up, give us a shout. Likewise, any ideas for the toolbox, let us know. Next up is renaming files, but encryption and hashing are also being looked at.

Mack

hi Mack
Seems there are some really usefull functions here...can you make the download of your Toolkit avaialble for download.
The current link is not avaialble.
Thanks
Pakapaka

Sorry, the beta of this has long expired and would require a rebuild using tools that we no actively longer run. If one of our clients needs it as part of a project, then I have it republished - but with the move to HTML5 - DLLs are a speciality now.

</mack>

Well I got bored and dusted off VS2008 and surprisingly it ran on Windows 10. More surprisingly, I remembered how to export the DLL functions to work with Opus after five years!

Any how, here is the unlocked version of the DLL and Opus imp. It's provided as is, no support, no guarantee but free to use in any projects. Remember it's a .net2 DLL so will need that installed.

http://files.interaktiv.co.uk/forum/toolkitdll.zip

</mack>

For those that like to play, Toolkit has a new GUI and some new functions. It's not finished, so it's just the published version at the moment:

http://files.interaktiv.co.uk/forum/toolkitdll16.zip

Contents:

1. copyright - Display the current copyright pulled from the DLL.

2. .net - shows the .NET version being used (requires version 2).

3. usertype - displays either USER or ADMIN depending on how you load the program.

4. file - allows you to pick a file and extract information - currently accessed date & size.

5. drive - choose a drive letter to retrieve the name and volume serial number.

6. hash - generate an MD5 hash from a string.Now links to Opus HTML5 version of the same feature.

7. clipboard - save a clipboard image as a JPEG.

8. download - download a file from a specified URL. Now works in the background.

9. launch - load a file as if you had double clicked it in Windows. Now accepts parameters.

10. RegExp - performs a regular expression on a string.

11. Process - perform a process count based on a given process name in Task Manager.

</mack>

Hi Mack
Cool release and very useful.
Can you provide more info about the LAUNCH file and the use of Parameters.
Here is a specific example:
Is it possible to use a parameter to load a regular pptx file and run automatically in SLIDESHOW mode (as if it were a .ppsx file. This means showing a presentation using the "runtime player" without opening the entire Powerpoint application in "editing mode".

...and in general what Parameter options exist for PDF documents as well as Word and Powerpoint files.

Any inofrmation you can provide is helpful
Thanks
Pakapaka

Yes, same format as if launched from RUN or Command Line.

For example:

In file box enter: POWERPNT.exe

In parameter box enter: /S "Path and Name of PowerPoint.pptx"


The executable may or may not need the full path. On my system, just the name works.

The use of inverted commas are necessary if the path / name contains spaces.

</mack>

The switches for any application are whatever the developer has included. So for PowerPoint you need to look at information from Microsoft:

https://support.office.com/en-us/articl ... 0a43d8a2cc

and PDF ones seem to be:

https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe ... meters.pdf

I haven't tried these except the Slideshow in the previous post.

</mack>

You stated


Is there a way to us the /s parameter for Powerpoint to open any pptx file in a more generic way, without having to specify the fullname? Assuming Powerpoint is installed on the machine, how come this changes from PC to PC?

I don't know that it does. It changes from software install to software install. Beside those defined in PATH, applications like PowerPoint are found here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths

And these can be executed from the Run Prompt simply by calling their name.

</mack>