Can slide change when linked .JPG changes while presentation is running?

[Charlie Spencer]

I'm trying to replicate a Scala InfoChannel presentation in
PowerPoint. I've searched this newsgroup, but since I rarely use
PowerPoint, much of the content is over my head.

I'm running PowerPoint 97 SR-2 on Windows 2000 SP4, logged on with
full local admin privs. My presentation includes four slides, each
with a single linked .JPG file of current weather conditions. These
were inserted with Insert, Object, Create from File, Link. I've also
tried Insert, Picture, From File, Linked to File. The .JPGs are in the
same directory as the .PPT, and were there when they were inserted. A
batch file in the background pulls new versions of the .JPG files from
a web site every ten minutes, putting them in the directory,
overwriting the existing ones.

I'd like the presentation to loop on a remote monitor with no
interaction once started. I've gone into SlideShow, Set up Show, and
selected both "Presented by speaker" and "Loop continuously".

I'm prompted to update the linked .JPGs when I open the file, and I
can update them manually with Edit, Links, Update Now. However, they
do not update while the presentation is running.

Is there a way for a presentation to show updated linked .JPGs while
the presentations is running, without having to close and reopen, or
manually update? I can upgrade PowerPoint to a newer version if it
will do this, but I don't want to buy an upgrade and find it doesn't
give me this capability.

Thanks for any assistance anyone can provide.

Charlie Spencer

caspencer @ switch.com

Union Switch & Signal Inc.
Batesburg, SC 29006

 

[Shyam Pillai]

Charlie
If you use LiveWeb - http://skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm instead of LiveImage,
you can link directly to the web page or image. If will referesh the slide
automatically whenever it loads that slide.

 

[Shyam Pillai]

Hi Steve,
Yes, it's perfect when the linked image is off the local disk/network but
not really tested for URLs. Charlie mentioned that another program was
pulling the images off the web to the local drive, hence I suggested LiveWeb
to eliminate that external app and make it display straight off the web.

 

[Charlie Spencer]

Guys, thanks for the suggestions. I tried LiveImage a few weeks ago,
but it didn't appear to make any difference. I assumed LiveWeb
wouldn't work either since it was from the same author (no offense
intended), and assumed both were incompatible with PP97. Will LiveWeb
allow me to pass a username and password to my firewall? We're kinda
funny about the applications we allow to access the web ;-)

I don't see how I can be misusing LiveImage, since it only has four
parameters. I entered a text message to display while updating, but
it doesn't appear so I wonder if it's updating at all. Does it update
when the presentation loops back to the beginning, or just before the
affected slide is displayed? How long does the message display?
Maybe its going by too quickly to see. I enlarge the image to fill
the screen after I insert it; is that what's causing the problem?

I'm in a corporate environment; upgrading to PP2K or 2003 is a
quickly-approved option if either has this capability built in. I'm
sure many people find the Scala InfoChannel interface easy and
"intuitive" (is any GUI intuitive?), but its so different from
"Windows standard" that I dread having to use the application.

 

[Charlie Spencer]

Thanks, but I wrote to Shyam almost three weeks ago. I included far
more detail than in the first posting in this stream, including
questions about his programs. I sure my message just got lost in the
large number of unsolicited e-mails he receives, so I turned to a
public forum.

Do newer versions of PP include this capability, or will I still have
to use a plug-in if I upgrade?

Thanks.

 

[Charlie Spencer]

Never mind. I removed all add-ins from PowerPoint, put back LiveImage
only, and everything is working. Apparently there was a conflict with
some other add-in. I probably won't discover which one caused the
conflict until I put the others back, and I'm not going to do that
with each one until I need it.

Thanks for all the help.