Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)

BluePhil · Post by **BluePhil** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 1:48 am

I posted an inquiry regarding Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) yet when I search the forums for DDE nothing appears, not even a reference to what I posted.
Why is the search function not working properly?

/* Phil */

Post by **Charlie Young** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:32 am

BluePhil wrote:I posted an inquiry regarding Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) yet when I search the forums for DDE nothing appears, not even a reference to what I posted.
Why is the search function not working properly?

/* Phil */

Search terms must be longer than 3 characters.

I was going to respond to your original post, but I didn't have any useful suggestions, except maybe trying to create a new spreadsheet with links from the other application. Have you tried that?

BluePhil · Post by **BluePhil** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:07 am

Yes, Charlie, I did create a new spreadsheet with similar links and they too gave me an error.

Thanks.
/* Phil */

Charlie Young wrote:
BluePhil wrote:I posted an inquiry regarding Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) yet when I search the forums for DDE nothing appears, not even a reference to what I posted.
Why is the search function not working properly?

/* Phil */
Search terms must be longer than 3 characters.

I was going to respond to your original post, but I didn't have any useful suggestions, except maybe trying to create a new spreadsheet with links from the other application. Have you tried that?

Post by **Charlie Young** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:34 am

BluePhil wrote:Yes, Charlie, I did create a new spreadsheet with similar links and they too gave me an error.

Thanks.
/* Phil */

What is the error?

Post by **Zizi64** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:19 am

BluePhil,
can you upload your example files here? (And/Or upload please, only the formula from a DDE "destination" cell)

edit this topic's initial post · Post by **Villeroy** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:41 am

~~DDE is out. Not even Windows supports it any longer.~~ Other platforms never used this protocol. OOo comes with its own simple implementation of DDE for Writer and Calc on all supported platforms.
It should work with "soffice" as in DDE("soffice";"Range";"File") or as DDE field in Writer. Sometimes it can be used with providers other than "soffice", sometimes not.

Post by **Zizi64** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:57 am

DDE is out. Not even Windows supports it any longer.

Really? The Vista and Win7 have not DDE option?
I (and we, in my corp.) only have WindowsXP, but have not newer MS op.sys. versions. The DDE link works for me (yet) on WindowsXP...

edit this topic's initial post · Post by **Villeroy** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 12:24 pm

Zizi64 wrote:
DDE is out. Not even Windows supports it any longer.
Really? The Vista and Win7 have not DDE option?
I (and we, in my corp.) only have WindowsXP, but have not newer MS op.sys. versions. The DDE link works for me (yet) on WindowsXP...

Well, this is what I read in this forum.

Oh, no! I got it wrong. It's a gimmick called NET-DDE:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nickkramer/arch ... 77962.aspx

This seems to answer all questions on DDE:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/rhaminisys/ddeinfo.html

BluePhil · Post by **BluePhil** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:31 am

Ok. Regarding the problem I stated. It still does not function within OpenOffice. So I happened to still have my CD for Microsoft Office 2000 and, though I prefer to use OO, I installed Excel so I could see if the problem existed with Excel-- it does not. Excel functioned perfectly using the Open Office file that I had saved as and .xls file. And the latter .xls file was updated via DDE from Personal Stock Monitor Gold which I use for monitoring investments.

I do not update Windows via Microsoft but use Shavlik to provide Windows updates. Shavlik is similar to GFI in that they don't dump updates on you and the installation of these can be done over one's network which I do here at my home office as we have 3-5 computers here. I believe that prior to experiencing the problem I did install a whole bunch of updates and perhaps one of these may have caused the problem. Has anyone experienced problems with Open Office after doing Windows Updates and perhaps they might know which update was installed prior to experiencing the problem?

Unfortunately, I install many updates at a time as I only do this every couple of months. I will go back through my logs if no one has any info and try, by removing various updates, to ascertain which update possibly caused the problem. Apparently the problem was chiefly with Open Office as the Excel install functions and all my other programs function properly.

Thanks all for the feedback,

as always,

/* Phil */

Post by **Zizi64** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:58 am

And why not upload it here to see sample files to examine your problem?
Maybe, it is just a syntax error in the DDE link.

edit this topic's initial post · Post by **Villeroy** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 11:05 am

DDE simply works for me as documented:
DDE("soffice";"C:\Path\Name.ods";"SheetX.Y99")
DDE("soffice";"C:\Path\Name.ods";"NamedRange")
DDE("soffice";"C:\Path\Name.ods";"NamedRange";1) [assume US locale]
DDE("soffice";"C:\Path\Name.ods";"NamedRange";2) [convert to text]

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wik ... E_function

BluePhil · Post by **BluePhil** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:39 pm

Hello Villeroy,

Since it functions in Excel and as it worked for 2.5 years with Open Office, I don't believe anything is gained by uploading a 200 line by 50 column spreadsheet. Here are copies of some of the cells that are dysfunctional-- the whole spreadsheet is dysfunctional because all of the data processed is imported via DDE.

=DDE("psm";"FIDELITY 1\AGRICULTURE\ADM";"Symbol")
=DDE("psm";"FIDELITY 1\AGRICULTURE\ADM";"Avg. Cost")
=DDE("psm";"FIDELITY 1\AGRICULTURE\ADM";"Shares")
=DDE("psm";"FIDELITY 1\AGRICULTURE\ADM";"Last")

I really don't believe anything is wrong with the spreadsheet or, for that matter, with OO. I think what occurred is that one of the Vista x64 updates probably kaboshed the DDE functions in OO. Thanks.

as always,

/* Phil */

Post by **Charlie Young** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:57 pm

Phil,

You've indicated you can't get DDE to work in a new Calc spreadsheet with your psm software, but what about from another Calc sheet? That would tell whether the problem was a general OOo one or if it specific to psm.

I was going to ask if the path to PSM was accurate, but since Excel finds it, that probably isn't the problem.

No one here has asked yet about resetting your user profile, so I will. It's helped me a couple of times.

BluePhil · Post by **BluePhil** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 11:52 pm

Charlie,

Thanks for the note re: User Profile. Hadn't done what you cited but, unfortunately:), the result was the same and I changed my user profile back from user.old to user. But I greatly appreciate the insight as, should I run into other problems, that might be fixed by going that route now I have a proper map.

I still believe it must have something to do with the last Windows update that I did which occurred approximately at the same time that OO DDE stopped functioning. The only issue, which I haven't begun to tackle, is which of the 20 updates I installed disabled the dde function.

all my best,

/* Phil */

mriosv · Post by **mriosv** » Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:11 am

OOo help (330beta1)
DDE
Returns the result of a DDE-based link. If the contents of the linked range or section changes, the returned value will also change. You must reload the spreadsheet or choose Edit - Links to see the updated links. Cross-platform links, for example from a OOo-dev installation running on a Windows machine to a document created on a Linux machine, are not allowed.
Syntax
DDE("Server"; "File"; "Range"; Mode)
Server is the name of a server application. OOo-devapplications have the server name "Soffice".
File is the complete file name, including path specification.
Range is the area containing the data to be evaluated.
Mode is an optional parameter that controls the method by which the DDE server converts its data into numbers.
Mode Effect
0 or missing Number format from the "Default" cell style
1 Data are always interpreted in the standard format for US English
2 Data are retrieved as text; no conversion to numbers

Example
=DDE("soffice";"c:\office\document\data1.sxc";"sheet1.A1") reads the contents of cell A1 in sheet1 of the OOo-dev Calc spreadsheet data1.sxc.
=DDE("soffice";"c:\office\document\motto.sxw";"Today's motto") returns a motto in the cell containing this formula. First, you must enter a line in the motto.sxw document containing the motto text and define it as the first line of a section named Today's Motto (in OOo-dev Writer under Insert - Section). If the motto is modified (and saved) in the OOo-dev Writer document, the motto is updated in all OOo-dev Calc cells in which this DDE link is defined.I

When the DDE() is created with Menu/Edit/Paste Special-Link, the path is an absolute path like the samples of the help.
I did a try, and didn't work with other than an absolute path.
I think is mandatory to use an absolute path.

BluePhil · Post by **BluePhil** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 5:34 am

Hello mriosv,

Thanks for the comment. I would tend to agree with you but the fact is that until roughly two weeks ago the current version (3.2.1) updated perfectly well with the syntax cited in one of my earlier posts connecting it to Personal Stock Monitor (PSM), identifying the proper sheet within that program etc, and when a value changed in PSM, the OO spreadsheet updated correctly. As I mentioned, around that time I did a major updating of all Windows machines here and I believe that the updating broke something in OO; that is to say made OO dysfunctional vis-a-vis DDE functions. I haven't had the time to get into which specific update caused the calamity but will do so in the not too distant future. For the time being I am using Excel 2000 which I have had for a long time, reinstalled, and within which the same spreadsheet updates correctly-- I was saving OO Spreadsheets as .xls files since I often exchange data with various friends.

If anyone has run across this problem with OO since updating Windows Vista x64 Ultimate, I would appreciate hearing which update they postulate caused the difficulty.

Thanks all,

/* Phil */

freemanscott · Post by **freemanscott** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:15 am

i'm trying to create a dde link to import streaming quotes into a spreadsheet on vista as both my broker and calc claim is possible, but the dynamic data won't display in the cells; only the symbols for the arguments. however, it works fine in excel. i'm not particularly computer savvy, but i notice phil and charlie and others recently attacked a similar issue. as close as i can understand, the problem is likely a windows update and,without a simple fix, we're heading back to excel. am i wrong?

thanks.

Post by **Charlie Young** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:36 am

freemanscott wrote:i'm trying to create a dde link to import streaming quotes into a spreadsheet on vista as both my broker and calc claim is possible, but the dynamic data won't display in the cells; only the symbols for the arguments. however, it works fine in excel. i'm not particularly computer savvy, but i notice phil and charlie and others recently attacked a similar issue. as close as i can understand, the problem is likely a windows update and,without a simple fix, we're heading back to excel. am i wrong?

thanks.

I'm not sure I understand fully, but this doesn't seem like a DDE application. If you're trying to get data from the internet, you want to do Insert > Link to External Data.

freemanscott · Post by **freemanscott** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 5:08 pm

thanks for responding. perhaps i can be more clear:

i'm operating on vista and trying to import streaming quotes from my broker's website into a spreadsheet, but when i click 'export to calc' on the broker site and paste into the spreadsheet as instructed, #N/A appears in the selected cells, even though the arguments in the formula box look accurate.

when i follow the more detailed directions for creating a dde link in the calc users guide (copy and paste the data cells using Edit > Paste Special, and then select the link option), the data doesn't import at all.

the process works flawlessly with excel when i click 'export to excel' from the broker site.

edit this topic's initial post · Post by **Villeroy** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 6:21 pm

Only lookup formulas can return #NA (and function NA() of course) but you do not tell us the formula nor any example data.

freemanscott · Post by **freemanscott** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 5:24 pm

some of the formulas embedded in the cells and appearing in the formula box are:
=DDE("TOS";"LAST";"UMBIX")
=DDE("TOS";"52HIGH";"UMBIX")
=DDE("TOS";"52LOW";"UMBIX")
=DDE("TOS";"PE";"UMBIX")
the data returned to the cells is #N/A

tos is thinkroswim, the broker site. last, 52 high, 52 low and pe are streaming values to be returned. umbix is a security ticker symbol.

edit this topic's initial post · Post by **Villeroy** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 5:50 pm

Always learning. I did not know that DDE can return #N/A.
When I change DDE("soffice"... to DDE("SOFFICE";... I get an empty string instead of a number.

Try DDE("tos"

freemanscott · Post by **freemanscott** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:21 pm

thanks for the suggestion, but changing to tos makes no difference. and i still can't figure out how to get it to import according to calc's own user's guide.

freemanscott · Post by **freemanscott** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:13 pm

piece of cake in excel:

=TOS|LAST!UMBIX

Post by **MrProgrammer** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 7:40 am

Perhaps try setting the MODE to 1:
=DDE("TOS";"LAST";"UMBIX";1)
=DDE("TOS";"52HIGH";"UMBIX";1)
=DDE("TOS";"52LOW";"UMBIX";1)
=DDE("TOS";"PE";"UMBIX";1)
I don't have a way to test this, but a search suggested that this worked for someone else in a similar situation (stock quotes).

freemanscott · Post by **freemanscott** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:54 pm

thanks for the suggestion, but nothing changes.

freemanscott · Post by **freemanscott** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:59 pm

one last thought before i retreat to excel.

the instruction to export data from thinkorswim into calc is a simple copy and paste. one of the techs there downloaded calc and imported data to it with no problem. he suspects the trouble is with my settings in calc, but isn't familiar enough with the program to help me troubleshoot it. what should the setting be set to for this to work. and where do i go to check or reset them? i've never altered them since i downloaded the program as far as i know. should i uninstall and start fresh?

mxp · Post by **mxp** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:33 pm

I have exactly the same problem freemanscott had a few months ago. Has there been any progress on that issue? I would appreciate any hint about a possible solution.

My context is the following:

using TOS DDE server (from ThinkOrSwim) to update quotes in my spreadsheets

If my spreadsheet is an Excel one it works fine, if it is a Calc's no updates (just #N/A)

I'm just moving from a Windows XP box to a Windows 7 Home Premium (x64)

in XP everything works fine, including DDE updates on Calc V3.3.0

In Win7 I'm using exactly the same OO version (3.3.0)

This points the problem to win7 (x64) maybe

Again, I would ppreciate any help.

edit this topic's initial post · Post by **Villeroy** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:08 pm

Since Vista there is no more DDE support. DDE works within OOo under any operating system.

MurrayScott · Post by **MurrayScott** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:48 am

My attempts to use DDE invoved OOCalc in conjunction with TurboCalc, a graphical calculation program. You draw a diagram with geometrical components, the parameters of which are supposed to be controllable or readable in a spreadsheet.

Using the steps prescribed for linking to EXCEL, I followed TurboCalc's Tutorial 9 and (cutting a long story short) managed to read parameters from TurboCalc to OOCalc but attempts to control drawing parameters failed repeatedly.

I finally noticed an error line on the bottom of the TurboCalc window stating "string too long". Upon copying the OOCalc file (in .xls format, I haven't yet tried .ods)to the C: root directory so that the reference string was short, the whole thing came to life with 2-way DDE transfers.

I don't know whether this is relevant to others' problems but being unexpected I thought it might be of interest.

Murray Scott

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE link

Re: DDE link

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE

Re: DDE