3 Nagging Issues with Development

In my time working on projects, three things have eluded me. I have gone to great lengths on my own to find the answers, but I want to pick the brain of the community to see what comes of it:\

1. Converting presentations to .exe format

2. Floating-Point Variables (Global, not local)

3. Keyboard controls

I can help with the .exe format.

I use SecurePack to convert my games into .exe files.

It looks quite old fashioned but has quite a few features like password protection, restricting number of views etc - or just a straight conversion. It keeps all animations etc intact (not sure about VBA conversion though).

It's here: SECUREPACK

I'd be interested to know how it works for you.

Let me give it a shot and see how it goes. Thanks a lot!

How does it work for 2019 PowerPoint? I can't seem to find it after installing it.

Open PPT and check 'Tools'

I am also struggling with the keyboard usage issue as well. As soon as I can incorporate keyboard strokes to trigger a macro, then my games could technically use 3rd party buzzers that send their button signal as a keyboard stroke. What's super frustrating is that there were a couple paid games that claim their PowerPoint games can work with buzzers.

This looks like it could be promising, but I can't seem to get it working at all. Maybe you'll have better luck?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/language/reference/user-interface-help/sendkeys-statement

1. I gave Secure Pack a shot, only to realize the exe won't run on a computer without PowerPoint, which I assume is why you'd want an exe in the first place.
   
2. I too don't know how to set global variables in VBA. The only method I'm aware of is to store variables inside invisible text boxes or ActiveX components, which you're already doing.
   
3. Based on quick research, keyboard control may be possible with PowerPoint addins, which is great for individual use but may cause issues when other users struggle to install the addin.
   

These issues partially explain why I'm shifting towards web development, which resolves all 3 issues. That said, web development has a higher learning curve, and it generally takes longer to produce the same project in web than in PowerPoint. Pros and cons to platform of choice, I suppose.

Just to clarify, Secure Pack has 3 options:
- Use PowerPoint already installed
- Use PPT if installed, if not use the 2003 viewer
- Use the 2003 viewer
The 2003 viewer is added to the package if you want it.

The converter from this site works in a similar way: http://www.dzsoft.com/powerpoint-to-exe.html

There are other converters around so a search might yield some more suitable results.

Problem is just that. It's 2003. I have 2019. It's incompatible, as I can't find it.

Strange. I have 365 and it's there.

I hardly ever use it now, but if I do, I save a project as a PPT file and it works reasonably well.

There are quite a few other sites offering conversion software at a reasonable cost ($20 or so).

I've tried them all. They do not support VBA. That makes them useless to me, as 90% of the games I make require VBA.

xPLAYn, do you use 64-bit Office? It's possible SecurePack only works with 32-bit versions of Office.

Yes, I use 64 Bit Office.

As it turns out, keyboard control is theoretically possible.

I stumbled across this video, which explains how to run a macro based on the keyboard key pressed.



I gave it a try and it works, but there are drawbacks:

• You have to click an ActiveX command button to enable keyboard control.
  
• When you switch slides, keyboard control disappears until you click the ActiveX command button again.
  

Since it'd get annoying to have to click an "enable keyboard control" button every time you switch slides, I researched if it's possible to automatically "click" (set focus) the ActiveX command button with VBA. Apparently, there's a SetFocus attribute in VBA to do that, but it's not available in PowerPoint.

Thankfully, someone figured out a workaround, shown here. (They use ActiveX textboxes, but it's the same concept). Thing is, the VBA used in the workaround is quite complicated, and I haven't wrapped my head around how it all works.

So if you can figure out how the VBA in the workaround works, you should be able to implement decent keyboard control. (Windows only, since Mac doesn't support ActiveX)

Let me know if you want to work on deciphering the code together. I'm excited to see the potential of PowerPoint keyboard control (and a possible tutorial here on how to do it).

Yes, I would like to collaborate on this. I will have some time after the 8th to start another Dev Stream to accomplish some ideas .

Do you have Discord?

I am posting ongoing observations for keyboard control on your Discord channel. Please have a look when you get a chance.

Also, let me know around when you plan on the next dev stream if you want me to join.