Run a program from a PowerPoint slide (paging Morbo)

[JimOfAllTrades]

I got some great PowerPoint advice from Morbo and several other dopers a couple of months back, and I’m hoping I can get some more help.

The basic question is this: What is the correct way to run another program by clicking a button on a PowerPoint slide?

Background: We’re running PowerPoint 2003 on Windows XP Pro.

We have several PowerPoints that all include a slide that links to a program we sell. At the appropriate time in the presentation the salesman can click on the button on the slide and start up the executable to give the audience a demonstration of the program.

The slide has a button graphic, and under the “Action Settings” for the button we have checked the “Run Program” option, and entered the drive, path, and program name.

The program is a standard windows executable which allows the user to enter data, perform some calculations, and print a few reports. There are a dozen or so small data files used by the program that must reside in the same folder as the executable.

Everything works fine as long as the PowerPoints and the executable are in the same folder.

But if the PowerPoint is in a different folder, the program starts when you click the button, but it can’t find the data files. The effect is the same as starting the program using a shortcut that has the target specified correctly, but has a blank “Start In” folder.

There is one other twist. If you open the PowerPoint, edit the “Action Settings” and re-select the program to run, then everything works fine until you close PowerPoint. But the next time you open PowerPoint and that presentation, it won’t work correctly until you go to that slide, edit the “Action Settings”, and re-select the program.

So what am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?