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

using System.IO.Pipes;
using PPTAgent.Contracts;
using Newtonsoft.Json;

var pipe = new NamedPipeClientStream(".", PipeConstants.PipeName, PipeDirection.InOut);
pipe.Connect();

// Send a command
var msg = new PPTPipeMessage<object>
{
    Version = 1,
    Type = "cmd",
    Cmd = "next",
    RequestId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString("N")
};
PipeFrame.WriteFrame(pipe, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(msg));

// Read response
string json = PipeFrame.ReadFrame(pipe);
var response = 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