Syntax

DDEInitiate(application$, topic$)

Description

Initializes a DDE link to another application and returns a unique number subsequently used to refer to the open DDE channel.

Comments

The DDEInitiate statement takes the following parameters:

Parameter

Description

Application$

String containing the name of the application (the server) with which a DDE conversation will be established.

Topic$

String containing the name of the topic for the conversation. The possible values for this parameter are described in the documentation for the server application.

This function returns 0 if the link cannot be established. This will occur under any of the following circumstances:

The specified application is not running.

The topic was invalid for that application.

Memory or system resources are insufficient to establish the DDE link.

Example

This example sets and retrieves a cell in an Excel spreadsheet.

Sub Main()

  Dim cmd,q,ch%

  q = Chr(34) ' Define quotation marks.

  id = Shell("c:\excel5\excel.exe",3) 'Start Excel.

  ch% = DDEInitiate("Excel","Sheet1")

  On Error Resume Next

  cmd = "[ACTIVATE(" & q &"SHEET1" & q & ")]" 'Activate worksheet.

  DDEExecute ch%,cmd

  DDEPoke ch%,"R1C1","$1000.00"   'Send value to cell.

  'Retrieve value and display.

  MsgBox "The value of Row 1, Cell 1 is: " & DDERequest(ch%,"R1C1")

  DDETerminate ch%

  Msgbox "Finished..."

End Sub

See Also

DDEExecute (statement); DDEPoke (statement); DDERequest, DDERequest$ (functions); DDESend (function); DDETerminate (statement); DDETerminateAll (statement); DDETimeout (statement).

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