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Create user friendly Slide Show w/ VB.Net

Hi,
Using VS2005/VB.Net, Office 2000

I'm just looking for some direction right now. I need to create a Slide Show that has some graphs and other data driven slides. The slides will have to be updated w/ current data every 5 minutes. I'll also need to create the functionality for users to add or delete slides from the show.

I've created a vb.net app that will open up and play a slideshow, but obviously I need more functionality than that. And Office 2000 is what I have to work with. Wish I could use 2007, but it is what it is. I have a ton of questions, but to start with how should I set this up? Should I use VB.Net to connect to and manipulate the Slide Show in PowerPoint or should I try to create a slide show in VB.Net and not worry about PowerPoint?

Thx,
Dave

Nasir Razzaq

Depends on the requirements for the slide show. Is it something you can show in VB.NET itself without using powerpoint? If its just graphs and charts then you can use controls to display these on form.

coperations07

ASKER

The slide show is based on kind of a developing project, so I'm not sure exactly what will be expected of it yet. I doubt I'll have the need for any fancy animation or anything like that if that is what your inquiring about. I'm not sure what VB.NET is capable of as far as slide shows go. It's basically going to be graphs and numbers with maybe an image or two.

thx,
Dave

coperations07

ASKER

It also might be worth noting that the slide show will be looped continuously on a big screen television.

Nasir Razzaq

I think you should investigate WPF as it does support the animation and loops stuff. It comes with a storyline like that in flash and you can create a movie of user interface etc. With regards to graphs, you may need to use third party controls depending on the complexity of required output. You can draw a simple graph yourself using GDI and other graphic features of VB.NET and WPF. There is no problem adding numbers or pictures to the VB.NET forms.

coperations07

ASKER

So, if I make a slide show in VB.NET will there be a way to make it full screen like you can powerbuilder? Or will it show the borders around the screen?

coperations07

ASKER

*powerpoint not powerbuilder ^

Nasir Razzaq

If you do it in WPF then you can use full screen. In VB.NET, the alternative is to resize the form beyond the screen size and hide the taskbar.

coperations07

ASKER

Okay. I've never used WPF. What would the learning curve be for that? Is it an extension of VB.NET or a totally different beast? I see it requires .Net 3.0 Framework, I have 2.0 right now. What else is required to use WPF?

Nasir Razzaq

You would need to download the .NET 3.5 SP1 version and i think you need Visual Studio 2008 as well (you can download the express version). I am not sure about learning curve because i have not used it myself. It is part of VB.NET but involves another language called XAML.
Here are some links
http://www.microsoft.com/emea/msdn/thepanel/en/articles/introduction_wpf.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyrN_Ky3HWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo2acEXxbSM

coperations07

ASKER

Hmm. WPF is going to be too much new stuff for me right now. Looks like it could definately be useful, but I don't have the time to tackle it right now.
You haven't said much about using PowerPoint with VB.NET. Is this something that would not be possible or very difficult? I've been looking at using just VB.NET, but I'm not finding much info on setting up graphs.

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Nasir Razzaq

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coperations07

ASKER

Thanks for the help CodeCruiser. I've decided to use powerpoint with a vb.net interface.

Here's a link to some code I found that was exactly what I needed to create some graphs in powerpoint.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222687

Nasir Razzaq

Glad to help. Good luck with your project.