XL: Visual Basic Examples Using DDE

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

SUMMARY

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) is a method you can use to exchange data with another DDE-compliant program. In Microsoft Excel, one way you can use DDE is through a Visual Basic for Applications macro.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples 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. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft Support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp

Macro Example 1

1. Enter the following macro code in a new module sheet.

   
      Sub Using_DDE1()
   
      ' Dimension the variables.
      Dim Chan As Integer
      Dim RequestItems As Variant
   
      ' Start a channel to Word using the System topic.
      Chan = DDEInitiate("WinWord", "System")
   
      ' Requesting information from Word using the Formats item
      ' this will return a one dimensional array.
      RequestItems = DDERequest(Chan, "Formats")
   
      ' Uses a FOR loop to cycle through the array and display in a message
      ' box.
      For i = LBound(RequestItems) To UBound(RequestItems)
          MsgBox RequestItems(i)
      Next i
   
      ' Terminate the DDE channel.
      DDETerminate Chan
   
      End Sub 




2. Run the "Using_DDE1" macro.

Macro Example 2

1. Save a Microsoft Word document, called ddetest.doc to the root of your drive C.



2. Open a new Microsoft Excel workbook and in Sheet1, cell A1, enter hello.



3. Enter the following macro code into a new module sheet in this workbook.

   
      Sub Using_DDE2()
   
      ' Dimension the variables.
      Dim PokeRange As Object
      Dim Chan As Integer
   
      ' Create an range object to poke.
      Set PokeRange = Range("Sheet1!a1")
   
      ' Initiate a channel to Word using a file as the topic.
      Chan = DDEInitiate("WinWord", "c:\ddetest.doc")
   
      ' Execute a few WordBasic commands.
      DDEExecute Chan, "[FileNewDefault]"
      DDEExecute Chan, "[InsertPara]"
      DDEExecute Chan, "[InsertPara]"
   
      ' Pokes the data in A1 into ddetest.doc.
      ' This is not poked into the active document.
      ' The data is placed in the topic that started the DDE conversation.
      ' \StartOfDoc is a predefined bookmark in Word.
      DDEPoke Chan, "\StartOfDoc", PokeRange
   
      ' Terminate the DDE channel.
      DDETerminate Chan
      End Sub 




4. Run the "Using_DDE2" macro.



5. Open the "ddetest.doc" document in Microsoft Word.
   
   Note that the word "hello" (without the quotation marks) is added to the beginning of the document.

REFERENCES

"Visual Basic User's Guide," version 5.0, Chapter 10, "Controlling and Communicating with Other Applications"

"Microsoft Excel/Visual Basic Programmer's Guide," version 7.0, Chapter 10, "Communicating with Other Applications"

For more information about DDE, click Answer Wizard on the Help menu and type:

programming with dde

Additional query words: 5.00c 8.00 XL97 communicate talk send

Keywords : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode KbVBA kbhowto
Version : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,97; Win95:7.0
Platform : Win95 WINDOWS
Issue type :