Merging Powerpoint slides?

[Trigger]

I was hoping to get some opinions on how best to approach a problem:

A customer will browse our web site selecting .ppt presentations
he/she wishes to download. In the background, these presentations are
merged into ONE presentation, which is then downloaded by the
customer.
My employer is concerned with performance (the site could receive
quite a bit of traffic) and security.

I have few ideas in mind:

1. Write a script to run on the web server that executes powerpnt.exe
-i <file1> <file2> <finalfile>.

2. Have the task performed by a separate machine with the same script
- which is executed by the web server. (Can wsh scripts be executed
remotely from another machine?)

3. Write a program to run as a service on a separate machine. It
would listen for file requests (generated by the web server) on a
given port, then perform the file merges and send the end result to
the customer.
- any suggestions which language to use here? Is VBscript capable of
this, or am I looking at using something like Java or C?

[Trigger]

I was hoping to get some opinions on how best to approach a problem:

A customer will browse our web site selecting .ppt presentations
he/she wishes to download. In the background, these presentations are
merged into ONE presentation, which is then downloaded by the
customer.
My employer is concerned with performance (the site could receive
quite a bit of traffic) and security.

I have few ideas in mind:

1. Write a script to run on the web server that executes powerpnt.exe
-i <file1> <file2> <finalfile>.

2. Have the task performed by a separate machine with the same script
- which is executed by the web server. (Can wsh scripts be executed
remotely from another machine?)

3. Write a program to run as a service on a separate machine. It
would listen for file requests (generated by the web server) on a
given port, then perform the file merges and send the end result to
the customer.
- any suggestions which language to use here? Is VBscript capable of
this, or am I looking at using something like Java or C?

[Ray at]

[url]http://www.aspfaq.com/5003/[/url]

Ray at home

"Trigger" <tristan_abroad@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:254e49e.0310061850.1beff352@posting.google.co m...

> I was hoping to get some opinions on how best to approach a problem:
>
> A customer will browse our web site selecting .ppt presentations
> he/she wishes to download. In the background, these presentations are
> merged into ONE presentation, which is then downloaded by the
> customer.
> My employer is concerned with performance (the site could receive
> quite a bit of traffic) and security.
>
> I have few ideas in mind:
>
> 1. Write a script to run on the web server that executes powerpnt.exe
> -i <file1> <file2> <finalfile>.
>
> 2. Have the task performed by a separate machine with the same script
> - which is executed by the web server. (Can wsh scripts be executed
> remotely from another machine?)
>
> 3. Write a program to run as a service on a separate machine. It
> would listen for file requests (generated by the web server) on a
> given port, then perform the file merges and send the end result to
> the customer.
> - any suggestions which language to use here? Is VBscript capable of
> this, or am I looking at using something like Java or C?

[Jeff Cochran]

On 6 Oct 2003 19:50:53 -0700, [email]tristan_abroad@hotmail.com[/email] (Trigger)
wrote:

>I was hoping to get some opinions on how best to approach a problem:
>
>A customer will browse our web site selecting .ppt presentations
>he/she wishes to download. In the background, these presentations are
>merged into ONE presentation, which is then downloaded by the
>customer.
>My employer is concerned with performance (the site could receive
>quite a bit of traffic) and security.
>
>I have few ideas in mind:
>
>1. Write a script to run on the web server that executes powerpnt.exe
>-i <file1> <file2> <finalfile>.
>
>2. Have the task performed by a separate machine with the same script
>- which is executed by the web server. (Can wsh scripts be executed
>remotely from another machine?)
>
>3. Write a program to run as a service on a separate machine. It
>would listen for file requests (generated by the web server) on a
>given port, then perform the file merges and send the end result to
>the customer.
>- any suggestions which language to use here? Is VBscript capable of
>this, or am I looking at using something like Java or C?

Well, yuk. While my preference would be to never merge them and have
the presentations packaged correctly to begin with, I'd be tempted to
look at a fourth option - Merging on the client side. That only works
if the client has PowerPoint of course.

Otherwise, your first two methods are essentially the same, just
different hardware. A service would be great, and a lot more
programming, which I gather you're not yet capable of given your
question about langauge to use. I'm assuming your presentations are
pulling from a database (you asked in an ASP database group after all)
so I'd be tempted to use number one, at least until you test and find
out nobody waits for the presentations to merge and download.

Jeff

[Trigger]

[email]jcochran.nospam@naplesgov.com[/email] (Jeff Cochran) wrote in message news:<3f82aff5.81806311@msnews.microsoft.com>...

> On 6 Oct 2003 19:50:53 -0700, [email]tristan_abroad@hotmail.com[/email] (Trigger)
> wrote:
>

> >I was hoping to get some opinions on how best to approach a problem:
> >
> >A customer will browse our web site selecting .ppt presentations
> >he/she wishes to download. In the background, these presentations are
> >merged into ONE presentation, which is then downloaded by the
> >customer.
> >My employer is concerned with performance (the site could receive
> >quite a bit of traffic) and security.
> >
> >I have few ideas in mind:
> >
> >1. Write a script to run on the web server that executes powerpnt.exe
> >-i <file1> <file2> <finalfile>.
> >
> >2. Have the task performed by a separate machine with the same script
> >- which is executed by the web server. (Can wsh scripts be executed
> >remotely from another machine?)
> >
> >3. Write a program to run as a service on a separate machine. It
> >would listen for file requests (generated by the web server) on a
> >given port, then perform the file merges and send the end result to
> >the customer.
> >- any suggestions which language to use here? Is VBscript capable of
> >this, or am I looking at using something like Java or C?

>
> Well, yuk. While my preference would be to never merge them and have
> the presentations packaged correctly to begin with, I'd be tempted to
> look at a fourth option - Merging on the client side. That only works
> if the client has PowerPoint of course.
>
> Otherwise, your first two methods are essentially the same, just
> different hardware. A service would be great, and a lot more
> programming, which I gather you're not yet capable of given your
> question about langauge to use. I'm assuming your presentations are
> pulling from a database (you asked in an ASP database group after all)
> so I'd be tempted to use number one, at least until you test and find
> out nobody waits for the presentations to merge and download.
>
> Jeff

Thanx for the response Jeff...you're right, I probably wouldn't yet be
capable of writing a service, though I do have a bit of experience
with C/C++. I've been doing a little research and I just don't see an
easy way of creating slides without running the powerpoint executable
(please correct me if I'm wrong, actually I hope I'm wrong, this
option would be nice, as you say).

Whats your estimate at length of time to complete option 1 OR option
3, if I were to go that route? I have to come up with some sort of
proposal for my employer. He's hoping for a finished product by the
end of Dec., maybe Jan.
Thanx

[Jeff Cochran]

On 7 Oct 2003 20:08:44 -0700, [email]tristan_abroad@hotmail.com[/email] (Trigger)
wrote:

>jcochran.nospam@naplesgov.com (Jeff Cochran) wrote in message news:<3f82aff5.81806311@msnews.microsoft.com>...

>> On 6 Oct 2003 19:50:53 -0700, [email]tristan_abroad@hotmail.com[/email] (Trigger)
>> wrote:
>>

>> >I was hoping to get some opinions on how best to approach a problem:
>> >
>> >A customer will browse our web site selecting .ppt presentations
>> >he/she wishes to download. In the background, these presentations are
>> >merged into ONE presentation, which is then downloaded by the
>> >customer.
>> >My employer is concerned with performance (the site could receive
>> >quite a bit of traffic) and security.
>> >
>> >I have few ideas in mind:
>> >
>> >1. Write a script to run on the web server that executes powerpnt.exe
>> >-i <file1> <file2> <finalfile>.
>> >
>> >2. Have the task performed by a separate machine with the same script
>> >- which is executed by the web server. (Can wsh scripts be executed
>> >remotely from another machine?)
>> >
>> >3. Write a program to run as a service on a separate machine. It
>> >would listen for file requests (generated by the web server) on a
>> >given port, then perform the file merges and send the end result to
>> >the customer.
>> >- any suggestions which language to use here? Is VBscript capable of
>> >this, or am I looking at using something like Java or C?

>>
>> Well, yuk. While my preference would be to never merge them and have
>> the presentations packaged correctly to begin with, I'd be tempted to
>> look at a fourth option - Merging on the client side. That only works
>> if the client has PowerPoint of course.
>>
>> Otherwise, your first two methods are essentially the same, just
>> different hardware. A service would be great, and a lot more
>> programming, which I gather you're not yet capable of given your
>> question about langauge to use. I'm assuming your presentations are
>> pulling from a database (you asked in an ASP database group after all)
>> so I'd be tempted to use number one, at least until you test and find
>> out nobody waits for the presentations to merge and download.
>>
>> Jeff

>
>Thanx for the response Jeff...you're right, I probably wouldn't yet be
>capable of writing a service, though I do have a bit of experience
>with C/C++. I've been doing a little research and I just don't see an
>easy way of creating slides without running the powerpoint executable
>(please correct me if I'm wrong, actually I hope I'm wrong, this
>option would be nice, as you say).

Try the PowerPoint or Office newsgroups for that information, it's not
even remotely related to ASP or databases.

>Whats your estimate at length of time to complete option 1 OR option
>3, if I were to go that route? I have to come up with some sort of
>proposal for my employer. He's hoping for a finished product by the
>end of Dec., maybe Jan.

Dummy it up and try. That's the only way you'll know what's involved
in your situation.

Jeff