Using DDE to communicate with a Spreadsheet

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ib4jc78
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Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:27 am

Using DDE to communicate with a Spreadsheet

Post by ib4jc78 »

I am not sure if this is the right spot to post, but I cannot find any relevant discussions. I cannot get DDE poke to work from a tcl app. I can do a request and read a cell from an open spreadsheet but a poke does not work. I am not finding any information in OpenOffice.org at all dealing with using DDE to read/wright from/to a spreadsheet or any other DDE functions like switching spreadsheet files using DDE. Is OpenOffice read only or is there something I am missing. I have tried to google the info with no luck of anyone that has information on it. I am using ActiveTcl and found the Tcluno lib to use the UNO interface but it is broke and will not run for me. I think the newer versions of OpenOffice are incompatible with Tcluno. Any information on DDE or using Tcluno would be greatly appreciated! - Jeremy
TerryE
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Re: Using DDE to communicate with a Spreadsheet

Post by TerryE »

Wouldn't you be a lot better off using COM?
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ib4jc78
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Re: Using DDE to communicate with a Spreadsheet

Post by ib4jc78 »

I am unfamiliar with COM. Is that with OpenOffice or a programming language? Thanks! - Jeremy
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kingfisher
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Re: Using DDE to communicate with a Spreadsheet

Post by kingfisher »

< Off target, apparently. >
Last edited by kingfisher on Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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TerryE
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Re: Using DDE to communicate with a Spreadsheet

Post by TerryE »

UNO is the standard OOo API for intra and interprocess communication with the various Soffice engines.

No COM is or was the standard Microsoft API (though it is now being replaced by .Net). OOo proves an "Automation Bridge" which in effect converts UNO to COM and visa-versa. You can use this to talk to things like Calc from almost any development environment in the XP world. Since you are talking about DDE, I assumed that you are talking Microsoft OSs.

A quick google came up with things like: http://www.vex.net/~cthuang/tcom/ The given example maps can be mapped to a Calc equivalent. It is included in the ActiveTcl dirsto. See http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/docs/A ... com.n.html. If you search for DCOM in the SDK, you will see examples of what you want.
Ubuntu 11.04-x64 + LibreOffice 3 and MS free except the boss's Notebook which runs XP + OOo 3.3.
ib4jc78
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Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:27 am

Re: Using DDE to communicate with a Spreadsheet

Post by ib4jc78 »

Thank you! That was very helpful. I am more of a Linux guy than windows so I never looked into what COM can do. - Jeremy
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