PPTAgent

A VSTO add-in that turns Microsoft PowerPoint into a remote-controlled service via Windows Named Pipes.

Any application can connect to the pipe and control PowerPoint — slide navigation, slide show management, media region detection, and more.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────┐ Named Pipe ┌──────────────────┐
│ Any Application │ ◄──── JSON ────► │ PowerPoint │
│ (Console, WPF, │ "PPTAgent_Pipe" │ + PPTAgent VSTO │
│ Python, C++, ...) │ │ Add-in │
└─────────────────────┘ └──────────────────┘

Projects

Project	Target	Description
PPTAgent.Contracts	netstandard2.0	Protocol definitions — message types, pipe frame format, state models. This is the SDK.
PPTAgent.AddIn	net472 (VSTO)	The VSTO add-in that runs inside PowerPoint. Requires Visual Studio with Office development tools.
samples/ConsoleClient	net8.0	Sample interactive client demonstrating the protocol.

Quick Start

1. Build

dotnet build PPTAgent.sln

2. Install the Add-in

Deploy PPTAgent.AddIn.vsto (found in the build output) via:

• Double-click the .vsto file, or
• Use InstallUtil.exe, or
• Register via Visual Studio

3. Connect from Your App

Option A: Reference PPTAgent.Contracts NuGet / DLL

usingSystem.IO.Pipes;usingPPTAgent.Contracts;usingNewtonsoft.Json;varpipe=newNamedPipeClientStream(".",PipeConstants.PipeName,PipeDirection.InOut);pipe.Connect();// Send a commandvarmsg=newPPTPipeMessage<object>{Version=1,Type="cmd",Cmd="next",RequestId=Guid.NewGuid().ToString("N")};PipeFrame.WriteFrame(pipe,JsonConvert.SerializeObject(msg));// Read responsestringjson=PipeFrame.ReadFrame(pipe);varresponse=JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<PPTPipeMessage<object>>(json);

Option B: No dependencies (any language)

The wire protocol is trivial:

[4-byte LE int: payload length][UTF-8 JSON payload]

JSON message format:

{
"Version": 1,
"Type": "cmd",
"Cmd": "next",
"Data": null,
"RequestId": "unique-id"
}

Protocol Reference

Commands (Client → Add-in)

Cmd	Data	Description
state	—	Get current PowerPoint state
next	—	Next slide
prev	—	Previous slide
gotoSlide	{"SlideNumber": N}	Jump to slide N
startSlideShow	—	Start slide show
endSlideShow	—	End slide show
showSlideNavigation	—	Show slide navigation panel
disableAutoPlayTimings	—	Disable auto-advance
unhideHiddenSlides	—	Unhide all hidden slides
getMediaRegions	—	Get media control regions on current slide
exportSlideThumbnails	{"Width":W,"Height":H}	Export slide thumbnails (not yet implemented)

Response (Add-in → Client)

{
"Version": 1,
"Type": "response",
"Cmd": "state",
"Success": true,
"Data": { "SlideIndex": 1, "TotalSlides": 10, "IsRunning": true, ... },
"RequestId": "matching-request-id"
}

Event Push (Add-in → Client, unsolicited)

{
"Version": 1,
"Type": "event",
"Cmd": "slideShowBegin",
"Data": { "SlideIndex": 1, "TotalSlides": 10, "IsRunning": true, ... }
}

Events: presentationOpen, presentationClose, slideShowBegin, slideShowNextSlide, slideShowEnd

Error Response

{
"Version": 1,
"Type": "error",
"Success": false,
"Error": "Unknown command: foo",
"RequestId": "matching-request-id"
}

Configuration

Change the pipe name before starting the host (e.g., for multi-instance scenarios):

PipeConstants.PipeName="MyCustomPipeName";

Sample Client

Prerequisites

1. PowerPoint must be running with the PPTAgent add-in loaded
2. .NET 6.0 SDK or later

Run

cd samples/ConsoleClient
dotnet run

The console client will:

1. Connect to the PPTAgent named pipe
2. Display an interactive menu:

   PPTAgent Console Client
   =======================
   Connecting to pipe: PPTAgent_Pipe
   Connecting... Connected!
   Commands:
   1) Get state
   2) Next slide
   3) Previous slide
   4) Goto slide
   5) Start slide show
   6) End slide show
   7) Show slide navigation
   8) Disable auto-play timings
   9) Unhide hidden slides
   0) Exit
   >
   

3. Send commands and display responses
4. Receive and display events (e.g., slideShowBegin, slideShowNextSlide) in real-time

License

GPL-3.0