XL: Visual Basic Examples Using DDE

ID: Q141772

The information in this article applies to:

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/refguide/
The following macro code provides some simple examples using DDE from Microsoft Excel to Microsoft Word.

Macro Example 1

To use the first macro, Microsoft Word will either need to be in the PATH statement in the Autoexec.bat file, or Microsoft Word must be running.

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.

A series of message boxes will be displayed with each of the available format types in Microsoft Word.

Macro Example 2

To use this second example, Microsoft Word must be in the PATH statement in the Autoexec.bat. To edit the Autoexec.bat, you can use an MS-DOS Editor or Notepad in Windows.

1. Save a Microsoft Word document, called "ddetest.doc" (without the 

   quotation marks) to the root of your drive C.
2. Open a new Microsoft Excel workbook and in Sheet1, cell A1, enter 
   "hello"(without the quotation marks).
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
In Microsoft Excel, version 5.0, click Contents on the Help menu, select "Programming With Visual Basic" and then click the Search button and type "DDE" (without the quotation marks).

Additional query words: 5.00 5.00c 7.00 8.00 XL97 communicate talk send 

Keywords          : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode KbVBA kbhowto 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,97
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999