You can easily extend Presentation Gallery's range beyond its CD-ROM content by importing your own hard drive based Resources into My Gallery. Whether they be late breaking documents or an image you've just created, My Gallery will make these new Resources available to any PG Presentation.
Note that users of the SOHO edition of Presentation Gallery must first import their Resources into My Gallery before they can be listed and subsequently made available for assembly within their Presentations.
To add a new Resource, click on the My Gallery icon in the top menu bar. As with any PG Gallery, the current contents will be listed in the centre of your screen. Select the Add To My Gallery icon (the small open suitcase with the red arrow) on the right side of your screen. You will now have two options to locate and load your new Resource: BROWSE or SEARCH.
Selecting BROWSE will present you with a standard Windows dialog box. You will be able to navigate to the drive and folder where the file you wish to add resides. Selecting SEARCH will allow you to type in an appropriate keyword and PG will list all files on your hard drive matching your request.
Once your file has been located and selected, enter in a description for this Resource and click on the SAVE TO MY GALLERY button. You also have the option of automatically importing the entire contents of a directory.
My Gallery will directly support any of the file types currently found in the other PG Galleries .These include: .MOV, .AVI , .MPG, .FLC, .FLI, .PDF, .HTM,.WAV, .EXE, .JPG, .GIF,.BMP, .TIF, .ICO, .PCD, .FPX, PSD, .EPS and .PCT
Note that all Still-Image files are converted to a standard JPEG (.jpg) format when added to My Gallery.
If you import a file type that Presentation Gallery does directly support, during playback PG will automatically open the file by launching the external windows program used to create it.
In cases where an imported file type has not been previously registered within your Windows system, PG will prompt you to locate a program to link to this new Resource. In other words, to locate the external Windows program that will be launched when this Resource appears in your Presentation.
Once linked, this external program will also be added to your Programs Gallery and the file type will be registered for future use within Presentation Gallery. (see Programs Gallery)
Note that you can always edit existing Programs Linking via My Gallery. To do this, select the appropriate Resource within your My Gallery listing and click on the Program Linking icon to the left of the trash can (the computer with red arrow pointing towards it). The Program Linking dialog box will appear and you will be able to establish a new association for this file type.
My Gallery will also allow you to import External Shows or pre-packaged '.exe' presentations. Unlike a traditional windows programs, these are self-running shows such as a Director 'projector' or a PowerPoint Viewer show.
When importing an External Show however, it is essential to account for any additional supporting files the Show may require. For example, linked audio or video files that must reside in the same folder as the executable. If your External Show requires extra components, they should be manually copied into the directory: C: \ PGallery \ MyGal. This can be done via your Windows Explorer.
Always test your External Show directly from My Gallery to ensure it operates correctly. It is also a good policy to include any special system requirements or navigational instructions within the Show's description. This will help other users when they include the Show in their Presentations.
