>I am writing a small application that automates powerpoint 2000. I am having a problem when displaying the the slideshow. When the slideshow completes, I am returning to powerpoint. I understand why this is happening, but is there a way that I can have VFP montior the status of powerpoint so that I can close powerpoint down nicely when the slideshow is finished? I have searched the arhcives here and have seen people mention implementing a 'wait state', but I'm unsure how to do so. Am I trying to do something that is not possible?

One way to do this is to use VFPCOM to trap PowerPoint's events. PowerPoint does have a situation where it behaves a bit differently and doesn't expose itself nicely to VFPCOM, and John V. Petersen wrote a .DLL to rectify the problem. I don't know if/where he's posted it publicly, but he let us use it in the book Tamar Granor and I wrote, "Microsoft Office Automation using Visual FoxPro," available at www.hentzenwerke.com. Or drop John a message directly.

I did rig up a solution without VFPCOM, possibly by using the FindWindowA and SetWindowPos API functions -- however, I don't have the code with me at the moment, and I'm drawing a complete blank. I'll try to dredge up that code, however, I might not be able to get to it until late tomorrow afternoon. The scenario I implemented may not be the same as what you're looking for, though--I'll have to check the code.

- della Martin