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Sharing Presentations with the Autorun CD Project Creator(C)

Need to create a presentation to share? This article contains tips for creating machine independent PowerPoint Presentations that will run from a CD!

Introduction

Do you need to share a presentation with another user? There is an answer other than Pack and Go. Sonia Coleman and Steve Hetrick have automated Sonia's well-known process for creating presentation CD's. If you haven't tried the Autorun CD Project Creator(C) yet, you should. You can locate it at http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/acdpc_instructions.htm or http://www.aladat.com/.

The Autorun CD Project Creator(c), allows you to easily prepare the files and folders needed to create an autorun CD that will run automatically when inserted into the CD drive. It allows linked presentations and other files to be sent to the CD as needed. With this tool, you can assemble a staging folder containing your presentations, any linked graphics, any necessary sound and video files, the PowerPoint Viewer and the code needed to run the presentation automatically, once the contents of the folder are copied to a CD-R.

Build a presentation to distribute

There are several points to keep in mind when developing a presentation to be delivered. It is best plan to handle these points before you start your presentation - Fixing some of these elements in an existing presentation can be time consuming.

1. Visit Sonia's site at http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/acdpc_instructions.htm and be sure to read all of the tips under the "Very Important! - - Read This First" section. The importance of this section can not be underestimated.

2. If you are using sound or video segments in your presentation, make sure that you are using common CODECs (encoding software) to create your clips. PowerPoint and the Viewer will look for the application you use on the target system, and give errors if it doesn't find them. For more detailed information on multimedia in PowerPowerPoint, visit the tutorial by Austin Myers

3. Keep in mind the limitations of the Viewer. There are two common ones. The Viewer does not run VBA code, so no macros will execute when your presentation is running. The The Viewer has not been updated since late 1999 and PowerPoint 2000's features do not run in the Viewer.

4. Make sure you have downloaded the PowerPoint Viewer from the Microsoft website.

5. Name your presentation using only letters and numbers. Do not use spaces or special characters, as the Viewer will not recognize these characters. You should strongly consider using an 8.3 name (an eight character name, ".", and a three letter extension) for Viewer ease.

Keeping these five points in mind, create and save your presentation as usual. Set up any transitions and effects as you wish.

Now that you have your presentation ready to go and the viewer downloaded, let's get the tool and distribute the presentation!

Download the tool

The tool is available from Ms. Coleman's website. Once you go to the site, select the "Tutorials" button on the left hand-side of the screen. On the tutorials web page, look for the link to the Autorun CD Project Creatorİ, the first PowerPoint Tutorial on the list. This will take you to the page with the download instructions.

Downloading the tool allows you to create a total of two projects and the extensive Help File is available to assist you. After two trial projects, you will need to register and pay for the tool, a total of US$25. Setting up the tool involves downloading the tool and then installing it. The installation process is quick, comprehensive, and self-explanatory. Once the tool is installed you can run it from your start menu. You can also install it as an "add-in" in PowerPoint. When you purchase the tool, you also will get bonus set of tutorial files.

Run the Tool

Execute the tool either from the desktop or from the add-in list within PowerPoint. When you run the tool, it will ask for several pieces of information: where it can find the presentation(s) you wish saved, where you wish the target directory to be created, and other files you wish included on the CD. (These other files are your graphics, sounds, and movies.) Once you have answered these questions, the tool will create your project in the location you specified, containing everything needed to create your CD.

Transfer the sub-folders and files contained in your staging directory to the CD and distribute

This is the easiest step. Just use the software that you received with your CD-RW drive to move the files and folders in your "project" folder to a CD-R or CD-RW. When everything is done, close the write session.

Test the Presentation

Before you distribute your CD, test that it works and can find all the files it needs. You will likely find that the first CD you build is not the CD you decide to distribute. Test the CD on as many other systems as possible. You need to verify that you have assembled the CD correctly.

First, you should check that the CD works when the drive is set up to autorun a program when a CD is inserted. You can check this on your own system by going to the device manager tab of the system properties. Bring up the properties of your CD drive from this tab, then check the settings tab for the current setting. It is easiest to first need to test your CD with this option enabled.

Once the option is enabled, open and close your CD drive. The presentation should appear. Run through it and test that each slide does what you want it to, that all graphics and sounds appear as desired and that the presentation ends cleanly.

Next you should check that the CD works when the drive is not set up to autorun CDs. To do this, turn the autorun property off. To test this situation, we turn to the words of Ms. Coleman herself:

Find the Viewer, double click it, go to File> Open and locate the presentyourfile.ppt file or the presentpresent.lst file and open it. Or follow the instructions in the Troubleshooting section of the Help File titled, "Verifying System Setting for CD Autorun Capability" and repeat the process.

If either of your tests did not work, you will likely find that you need to correct errors and build a second CD by running the tool again. Retest and repeat until your presentation runs as desired. If you want to avoid building multiple CDs, buy the tool from the site. Delivered with the tool are two tutorials that tell you how to test your presentation before you write the files to the CD.

You should test your final CD on several different machines, if possible If you only have one machine available to you, contact a close friend, neighbor or relative. (In this case, close being proximity as well as relationship.) Ask if you can test your CD on their machine. Be sure to mention that running the CD will not install or re-configure anything on their machine.

Distribute the presentation

Your tested presentation is now on your CD and ready to send out to the world. Send it out with confidence that you have created a quality CD.

To lessen the impact on your users of the possible auto-run problem discussed above, create a cover note for your CD telling users how to start the presentation if it does not start automatically. Sonia has provided sample text of this cover note in the help for the tool.

The author wishes to thank Sonia Coleman for her assistance with technical details within this article.