NETDDE two way communication

[Hareesh]

Friends,
I am using Excel 97(Ver.8) in Windows NT4. I was
successful in communicating between two excel sheets using
NETDDE, configuring one PC as Server and other as client.
But the communication was only possible in one direction.
It will be really nice, if you could tell me how to
communicate two way between two excel sheets in different
PCs connected through a LAN network. and also how to
configure DDESHARE for this particular purpose.

Regards
Hareesh

 

[Greg Lovern]

Hi Hareesh,

I don't think you can do that with NETDDE, and the only ways I can
think of doing it require programming.

The simplest way I know of would be to:
1) Write a simple ActiveX VB exe that uses GetObject to automate an
existing instance of Excel, and has a function(s) that accepts inputs
and does things to Excel. Install that VB EXE on both machines.
2) In Excel on both machines, use CreateObject to instantiate the VB
EXE on the *OTHER* machine, using CreateObject's 'servername'
argument. That argument was introduced fairly recently; I'm not sure
what version of Excel it was new in.
3) Start Excel on both machines. Each instance of Excel can control
the other via the VB exe it instantiated on the other machine.


Hope this helps,

Greg Lovern
http://PrecisionCalc.com
Get Your Numbers Right