1# ppt-control 2 3An interface for controlling PowerPoint slideshows over the network using WebSocket. With the included HTTP frontend, this package can essentially replicate PowerPoint's presenter view on any computer on the local network, with very low processing latency for commands. 4 5This was originally designed for controlling a PowerPoint slideshow from an instance of OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) running on the same computer (removing the need for an extra monitor to show presenter view). 6 7This package includes three main components: 8 91. The daemon, which runs in the background, independently of PowerPoint, and listens for WebSocket commands and hosts an HTTP server for the frontend 102. The HTTP frontend, written in JavaScript, which displays status information and sends commands to the daemon through WebSocket (this can be docked in one of OBS's "custom browser docks") 113. The OBS script, which allows a mapping of keyboard shortcuts to commands within OBS in order to control the slideshow from anywhere in OBS (keyboard shortcuts are implemented in the HTTP interface but only work when this is focused in OBS) 12 13## Requirements 14 15Due to the implementation's use of `pywin32` for COM communication, this daemon only works on Windows (but the HTTP and WebSocket interfaces can be accessed from any device). 16 17The server and the OBS script are written for Python 3.6, since at the time of writing, [OBS only supports 3.6](https://obsproject.com/wiki/Getting-Started-With-OBS-Scripting) for scripts. The source module for the built-in HTTP server from 3.9 is included in this project, since the 3.6 module does not allow for setting a custom server root (this feature was [introduced in 3.7](https://docs.python.org/3/library/http.server.html#http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler)). If you are not using the OBS script (or if you don't mind dealing with multiple versions of Python on the same system), the daemon should work fine on 3.9 in theory, but this is not fully tested. When OBS eventually provides support for >=3.7, this package will be updated to use the native HTTP server module, and support for pre-3.7 will be dropped. 18 19This package also requires [pywin32](https://pypi.org/project/pywin32/), [websockets](https://pypi.org/project/websockets/) and [pystray](https://pypi.org/project/pystray/) (all three are required for the server, but only `websockets` is required for the OBS script). 20 21 22## Installation 23 24`pip install ppt-control` 25 26will install all three components. You can then start the daemon by running 27 28`python -m ppt_control` 29 30from a command prompt (note the underscore). On first run, Windows Defender will show a warning and attempt to block Python from starting the server. You can safely allow the program through the firewall. You can now start a PowerPoint slideshow and navigate to the server by IP address/hostname (`http://localhost` if on the same machine) and control the slideshow. 31 32There are a few steps to set the package up fully: 33 34### Starting the daemon at bootup 35 36There are several ways to start a Python program at login. Here is one method: 37 381. Navigate to the directory containing the `pythonw` executable in Explorer (usually in `C:\Program Files\Python36` - run `python -c "import sys, print(sys.executable)"` to check) 392. Right click on `pythonw.exe` and click "Create shortcut" 403. Windows will ask you whether to place a shortcut on the desktop - click yes. Go to the properties of this shortcut, and in the target field, append ` -m ppt_control` (after the quotes, including an initial space). You can also change the name and icon of the shortcut if you like. 414. Copy this shortcut into the Startup folder (`%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup`). To quickly navigate to this folder, open an Explorer window and type `startup` in the address bar. 42 43### Using the HTTP interface in OBS 44 45To view the HTTP interface from within OBS, you can add a "custom browser dock" (View -> Docks -> Custom Browser Docks). The location should be the hostname and port number of the daemon (`http://localhost` by default). You can refresh the custom browser dock with Ctrl+R. 46 47### Global keyboard shortcuts in OBS 48 49Keyboard shortcuts in OBS browser docks only work when the browser dock is focused by clicking in it (there is actually no indication of focus in the interface, but if you click away from the browser dock the shortcuts will not work). To resolve this, there is another Python script called `ppt_control_obs.py` which can be added as a custom script in OBS. This script will listen for specific keys (configured in OBS's Hotkeys settings) and send commands to the daemon directly over WebSocket (no HTTP involved). To add the custom script, go to Tools -> Scripts, then click the + and choose the script. This will be located in the package directory which can be found with 50 51`pip show ppt-control` 52 53It is a good idea to turn off the keyboard shortcuts in the HTTP interface after loading the OBS hotkey script, otherwise commands will be sent to the daemon twice when the browser dock is focused. 54 55## Configuration 56 57Various settings can be changed in `%AppData%\ppt-control\ppt-control.ini`. This file is populated with the defaults for all possible settings at installation. 58 59## Todo 60 61- ✔️ Fix multiple-presentation support in JS & OBS clients 62- Create desktop/start menu shortcuts on installation with pip 63- Refactor/tidy JS code 64- Fix "RCP server unavailable" error on server 65- ✔️ Config documentation 66- ✔️ Re-implement last slide behaviour 67- ✔️ Re-implement black white behaviour 68- ✔️ JS client show status on last slide 69- ✔️ Shortcut to edit config in systray menu 70- Export all slides on presentation init 71- Abstract pres name in class & underscore `presentation` instance 72- Check assertions 73- Use `__debug__` flag 74- Make constant for static dir 75- Comment sys.coinitflags 76- Die if error in run_ws or run_http