PowerPoint COM event handler initialization error

[DHL]

Hi, I'm getting this error while trying to initialize a com event handler for Office PowerPoint events. The PowerPoint file is displayed correctly, but no events are captured as the ObjEvent() fails :

err.number is: -2147316576
err.windescription: Type mismatch.

err.description is:
err.source is:
err.helpfile is:
err.helpcontext is: 0
err.lastdllerror is: 0
err.scriptline is: 23
err.retcode is: 0

The sourcecode is:

Local $oMyError = ObjEvent("AutoIt.Error","MyErrFunc") ; Initialize a COM error handler
Func MyErrFunc($oError)
ConsoleWrite("err.number is: " & @TAB & $oError.number & @CRLF & _
         "err.windescription:" & @TAB & $oError.windescription & @CRLF & _
         "err.description is: " & @TAB & $oError.description & @CRLF & _
         "err.source is: " & @TAB & $oError.source & @CRLF & _
         "err.helpfile is: " & @TAB & $oError.helpfile & @CRLF & _
         "err.helpcontext is: " & @TAB & $oError.helpcontext & @CRLF & _
         "err.lastdllerror is: " & @TAB & $oError.lastdllerror & @CRLF & _
         "err.scriptline is: " & @TAB & $oError.scriptline & @CRLF & _
         "err.retcode is: " & @TAB & $oError.retcode & @CRLF & @CRLF)
EndFunc
Local $AppPowerPoint = ObjCreate("PowerPoint.Application")
If Not IsObj($AppPowerPoint) Then
MsgBox(0, "Error", "$AppPowerPoint is not an Object.")
Else
MsgBox(0, "Error", "Successfully created Object $AppPowerPoint.")
EndIf
Local $pptEvt = ObjEvent($AppPowerPoint, "PowerPointEvent_") ; Initialize PowerPoint COM event handlers
Local $OpenPresentation = $AppPowerPoint.Presentations.Open("C:\Users\DagHendrik\Desktop\test.ppt",True, False, False)
$OpenPresentation.SlideShowSettings.ShowPresenterView = 0
$OpenPresentation.SlideShowSettings.ShowType = 1
Local $SlideShowWindow = $OpenPresentation.SlideShowSettings.Run()
While True
Sleep(10)
WEnd

Func PowerPointEvent_SlideShowNextSlide($obj)
ConsoleWrite("GetCurrentSlide = " & ($SlideShowwindow.View.Slide.SlideIndex-1) & "<"& @LF)
EndFunc
Func PowerPointEvent_SlideShowOnNext($obj)
ConsoleWrite("GetCurrentSlide = " & ($SlideShowwindow.View.Slide.SlideIndex-1) & "<"& @LF)
EndFunc

The script continues fine, but no event are fired as the line with

Local $pptEvt = ObjEvent($AppPowerPoint, "PowerPointEvent_") ; Initialize PowerPoint COM event handlers

fails.

I'm using the latest autoit (v3.3.8.1, 32 bit) And I'm running Office PowerPoint 2013 32bit on a Windows 8 Pro 64 bit installation.

Any idea why the ObjEvent() fails?

(EDIT: changed to autoit code formatting)

Edited February 12, 2013 by DHL

[water]

But doesn't the error happen on line 23 which is "Local $SlideShowWindow = $OpenPresentation.SlideShowSettings.Run()"?

[DHL]

I think some of the formatting got lost when I copy-pasted the code. The error happens on the line

Local $pptEvt = ObjEvent($AppPowerPoint, "PowerPointEvent_") ; Initialize PowerPoint COM event handlers

The application and presentation loads fine, but because the event handler initialization failed I don't get any events back when advance through the slides

Edited February 12, 2013 by DHL

[water]

I tried here (AutoIt 3.3.8.1, Windows 7 64 bit, Office 2010 32 bit) and get the same error. But I can't see anything wrong.

I will check again after I had my coffee

[DHL]

Great :-) Thanks.

[water]

Seems to be a problem with PowerPoint. As soon as I replace "PowerPoint.Application" with "Outlook.Application" or "Excel.Application" the error is gone.

Needs some more investigation ...

[DHL]

I tried the code with AutoIT 3.3.6.1 and then it worked fine!

Seems like something has changed for the worse in AutoIt 3.3.8.1. Any idea?

[water]

Some changes have been made to COM (error handling) since 3.3.6.1.

IIRC the Devs made some notes that COM support was somehow broken before 3.3.8.1. They fixed it and performance dropped a bit and maybe the problem you see has been caused by this changes too.

Could you please download the latest beta version (3.3.9.4) and try again. The latest beta has seen some changes in the COM area again. The beta can be installed in parallel to the production version.

[DHL]

I tried with the latest beta and got the same error:

>"C:\Program Files (x86)\AutoIt3\SciTE\AutoIt3Wrapper\AutoIt3Wrapper.exe" /run /beta /ErrorStdOut /in "C:\Users\DagHendrik\Desktop\d.au3" /UserParams    
+>16:39:42 Starting AutoIt3Wrapper v.2.1.0.33    Environment(Language:0409  Keyboard:00000414  OS:WIN_8/  CPU:X64 OS:X64)
>Running AU3Check (3.3.9.4)  from:C:\Program Files (x86)\AutoIt3\beta
+>16:39:42 AU3Check ended.rc:0
>Running:(3.3.9.4):C:\Program Files (x86)\AutoIt3\beta\autoit3.exe "C:\Users\DagHendrik\Desktop\d.au3"    
--> Press Ctrl+Alt+F5 to Restart or Ctrl+Break to Stop
err.number is:  -2147316576
err.windescription: Type mismatch.

err.description is:  
err.source is:  
err.helpfile is:  
err.helpcontext is:  0
err.lastdllerror is:  0
err.scriptline is:  19
err.retcode is:  0

[water]

Sorry, then I have run out of ideas

You can either open an error ticket on Trac or stay with 3.3.6.1

[DHL]

Thanks for the help anyway, water :-)

I submitted a ticket here: http://www.autoitscript.com/trac/autoit/ticket/2316

[water]

Let's see what the Devs say ...