There are two methods of imbedding a Graph ZX graph in a PowerPoint presentation.

1. You can make an bitmap image of the graph and then paste or load it into the powerpoint presentation as you would any picture. See Create Bitmap to see how to make an image of a graph
2. You can use the Shockwave Flash Plugin to display the animated graph within Powerpoint. This process is outlined below:

Step 1 - Flash ActiveX

In order to embed a Graph ZX graph into a Power Point presentation you must have the Microsoft ActiveX component for Shockwave Flash installed on your machine. If you are running the presentation on the same machine as you designed the Graph ZX graph then you needn't worry because Graph ZX uses the same ActiveX component so it must be Xthere. If you are planning to use a different machine you need to make sure you have the ActiveX. Most machines have it as it has been included with the Internet Explorer install routine since IE 4.0 or if you visit any site using Flash movies the control will be downloaded automatically. Alternatively you can simply download it from the Macromedia site.

Step 2 - Files Needed

Once you have designed a graph to embed in PowerPoint you need to publish the file/s to make a SWF file and make sure any image files or effect files are available (if you haven't done so already). To do this. Select Publish from the main menu in Graph ZX and select PowerPoint Presentation from the drop down list. Follow the instuctions and publish the files to a blank directory. Now you have published the graphs you are ready to start PowerPoint.

Start PowerPoint and start a new file or open the presentation you want to include the graphs into.

Save the presentation to the same directory you chose when publishing the files for PowerPoint from Graph ZX

Step 3 - Control Toolbox in PowerPoint

Open up your Powerpoint application and select 'View' and then 'Toolbars'. If the Control Toolbox has not got a tick next to it click on it to turn it on.
(See below)

Now find the Control toolbox. At the bottom is an icon for 'other' controls. (See below) Click on it to get a list of available controls.

 

Step 4 - Shockwave Plug-in.

Clicking on this icon hammer will provide a scrolling menu of all the controls available on your machine. Select "Shockwave Flash Object" from the list.

There may be other "Flash" or "Shockwave" related components on your machine so make sure you select the correct one otherwise, the embed will not work.

Step 5 - Sizing

Your cursor will change to crosshairs. Drag these crosshairs to form the box in which you would like your movie to appear. This can be full-screen or a portion of the screen.

Step 6 - Properties

To get the properties box you can either click the right mouse button on the box and select "Properties," or click on the box with your left mouse button
and select "Properties" from the "File" menu. A properties window will appear.

The first property called ' Custom.' Click on this line and then select the '..' icon.

 

A Flash 'Property Pages' dialog will appear. Fill it in as below. The files needed to include in the Powerpoint presentation were generated when you published the graph. Make sure the Movie URL points to the same directory you chose to publish the files to or copy all the files created to a new directory of your choice. ALL these files must reside in the same directory as your PowerPoint (PPT) file. Fill in the other options as below (Note: The movie URL will differ - see below).

The Movie URL has the form:

[Directory]\graphname.swf

The directory is where the published files reside and should be the same as where the PowerPoint presentation is saved.
graphname.swf is the published Graph ZX file you designed.

Step 7 - Notes

Flash in PowerPoint can be unpredictable although once it is in and working it seems stable enough.

The tutorial was tested on Microsoft PowerPoint 2000.

There are a number of PowerPoint add-ins to help make including a Flash file in PowerPoint more simple.

(PowerPoint is a Trademark of Microsoft Corporation
Shockwave is a Trademark of Macromedia)