DDEInitiate Method

Applies To

Application object, Global object.

Description

Opens a dynamic data exchange (DDE) channel to another application, and returns the channel number.

Syntax

expression.DDEInitiate(App, Topic)

expression Optional. An expression that returns an Application object.

App Required String. The name of the application.

Topic Required String. The name of a DDE topic — for example, the name of an open document — recognized by the application to which you're opening a channel.

Remarks

If it's successful, the DDEInitiate method returns the number of the open channel. All subsequent DDE functions use this number to specify the channel.

See Also

DDEExecute method, DDEPoke method, DDERequest method, DDETerminate method, DDETerminateAll method.

Example

This example initiates a DDE conversation with the System topic and opens the Microsoft Excel workbook Sales.xls. The example terminates the DDE channel, initiates a channel to Sales.xls, and then inserts text into cell R1C1.

chan = DDEInitiate(App:="Excel", Topic:="System")
DDEExecute Channel:=chan, Command:="[OPEN(" & Chr(34) & "C:\Sales.xls" _
    & Chr(34) & ")]"
DDETerminate Channel:=chan
chan = DDEInitiate(App:="Excel", Topic:="Sales.xls")
DDEPoke Channel:=chan, Item:="R1C1", Data:="1996 Sales"
DDETerminate Channel:=chan