WD98: Run-Time Error 5584 "Too Many DDE Channels Are Open...

ID: Q181068

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

If Microsoft Word or another program cannot open any additional Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) channels, you may receive the following error message:

   Run-Time error '5584':
   Too Many DDE Channels are open. Please close a window.

CAUSE

When using DDE to communicate between programs, a separate "channel" or line of communication for each DDE conversation is created. It is possible to have multiple DDE conversations happening at the same time. While there is no absolute limit to the number of DDE conversations that can exist simultaneously, there is a relative limit that depends on the amount of system resources available. This limit varies from system to system.

WORKAROUND

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/

To prevent the error message from occurring, terminate each DDE conversation after you are finished using the channel. To terminate a DDE channel, use either of the following commands.

   Syntax to Terminate a Specific Channel Number
   ---------------------------------------------

   DDETerminate(ChannelNumber)

   -or-

   Syntax to Terminate All DDE Channels
   ------------------------------------

   DDETerminateAll

For example, the following macro (Sub procedure) uses DDETerminate to close each DDE channel that is initiated.

   Sub DDETest
      For x = 1 to 40
         chan = DDEInitiate("Excel", "Sheet1")
         ' Your other commands go here.
         DDETerminate chan
      Next x
   End Sub

To reproduce the "Session too complex...." error message, start Word and Excel and run a macro that opens a number of DDE channels without terminating the channels.

   Sub DDEReproduceError
      For x = 1 to 40
         n = DDEInitiate("Excel","Sheet1")
      Next x
   End Sub

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
               Applications

Additional query words:

Keywords          : kbcode kbprg OffVBA kbmacroexample kbwordvba macword98 
Version           : MACINTOSH:98
Platform          : MACINTOSH
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: April 6, 1999