DDEInitiate(application, topic)
The DDEInitiate function has the following arguments.
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| application | A string expression identifying an application that can participate in a DDE conversation. Usually, the application argument is the name of an .exe file (without the .exe extension) for a Microsoft Windows–based application, such as Microsoft Excel. |
| topic | A string expression that is the name of a topic recognized by the application argument. Check the application's documentation for a list of topics. |
Remarks
If successful, the DDEInitiate function begins a DDE conversation with the application and topic specified by the application and topic arguments, and then returns a Long integer value. This return value represents a unique channel number identifying a channel through which data transfer can take place. This channel number is subsequently used with other DDE functions and statements.
If the application isn't already running or if it's running but doesn't recognize the topic argument or doesn't support DDE, the DDEInitiate function returns a run-time error.
The value of the topic argument depends on the application specified by the application argument. For applications that use documents or data files, valid topic names often include the names of those files.
Note The maximum number of channels that can be open simultaneously is determined by Microsoft Windows and your computer's memory and resources. If you aren't using a channel, you should conserve resources by terminating it with a DDETerminate or DDETerminateAll statement.
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