XL: Using the DDERequest Method for System Information

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

This article discusses how to use the Visual Basic for Applications DDERequest command to use DDE (dynamic data exchange) to pass information from a specified program to Microsoft Excel.

MORE INFORMATION

The following macro example starts a second instance of Microsoft Excel, initiates a DDE channel to the new instance of Microsoft Excel with the "system" topic, and uses the DDERequest method to obtain information. The data returned from the DDERequest method is returned as an array.

Microsoft provides examples of Visual Basic for Applications procedures for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. The Visual Basic procedures in this article are provided 'as is' and Microsoft does not guarantee that they can be used in all situations. While Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular macro, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality, nor will they help you construct macros to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to consult one of the Microsoft Solution Providers. Solution Providers offer a wide range of fee-based services, including creating custom macros. For more information about Microsoft Solution Providers, call Microsoft Customer Information Service at (800) 426-9400.

In this example, a second instance of Microsoft Excel is being used as the second program for the DDE link.

To use this example, enter the following code in a module sheet:

   Sub Get_Info
      ' Starts a second instance of Microsoft Excel.
      Shell("Excel")
      ' Initiates a DDE Channel System topic of Microsoft Excel.
      Chan=Application.DDEInitiate("Excel", "System")
      ' Creates an array called Info that contains all available
      ' system topics for Microsoft Excel.
      Info=Application.DDERequest(Chan, "SysItems")
      ' Displays message box for all of the available
      ' system topics in Microsoft Excel.
      For X=1 to Ubound(Info)
         Msgbox Info(X)
      Next
      ' Terminates the DDE Channel.
      Application.DDETerminate Chan
   End Sub

• SysItems
• Topics
• Status
• Formats
• Selection
• Protocols (Microsoft Excel 97 only)
• EditEnvItems (Microsoft Excel 97 only)

REFERENCES

For more information on retrieving system information using Microsoft Excel and DDE (dynamic data exchange), please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q33065
   TITLE:      Excel: Using the REQUEST Macro Command for System
               Information