Creates a notify link or an automatic link used in a dynamic data exchange (DDE).

DDEAdvise(nChannelNumber, cItemName, cUDFName, nLinkType)

Parameters

nChannelNumber

Specifies the channel number.

cItemName

Specifies the item name. For example, Microsoft Excel uses row and column notation to refer to cells in a worksheet. The item name R1C1 designates the cell in the first row and first column of the worksheet.

cUDFName

Specifies the user-defined function that is executed when a notify link or an automatic link is established and the item cItemName is modified. When the user-defined function is executed, it is passed the following six parameters in the order given below:

Parameter	Contents
Channel Number	The channel number of the server application.
Action	ADVISE or TERMINATE.
Item	The item name; for example, R1C1 for a Microsoft Excel worksheet cell.
Data	The new data (automatic link) or the empty string (notify link).
Format	The data format; for example, CF_TEXT.
Advise Status	The link type (0 = manual, 1 = notify, 2 = automatic).

The user-defined function should have six parameters in its LPARAMETER or PARAMETER statement to accept the values passed from the server application. If a notify link is established, the user-defined function is executed and the empty string is passed in the Data parameter. You can issue DDERequest( ) later to retrieve the data. If an automatic link is established, the user-defined function is executed and the data is passed in the Data parameter.

The Action parameter contains ADVISE when the link is being updated by the server. The user-defined function is called, and the Action parameter contains TERMINATE when the link is closed by the client or server.

Any value returned by the user-defined function is ignored.

nLinkType

Specifies the link type in the following way:

nLinkType	Link type
0	Manual
1	Notify
2	Automatic

You can turn off notification from the server application by specifying 0 for nLinkType. If the item changes, the user-defined function is not executed.

Return Value

Remarks

Example

The following example demonstrates how you can establish a DDE channel to a Microsoft Excel worksheet named Sheet1. DDEAdvise( ) is used to establish two links to data in two worksheet cells (R1C1 and R1C2). The user-defined function NEWDATA is executed when data in either of the cells changes. The user-defined function tests the item and advise parameters to determine which item changed and what kind of link has been established.

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PUBLIC mchannum mchannum = DDEInitiate('Excel', 'Sheet1') IF mchannum != -1 = DDEAdvise(mchannum, 'R1C1', 'newdata', 1) && Notify link = DDEAdvise(mchannum, 'R1C2', 'newdata', 2) && Automatic link WAIT WINDOW 'Enter data in first two cells in Excel.' ENDIF PROCEDURE newdata PARAMETERS channel, action, item, data, format, advise IF action = 'ADVISE' DO CASE CASE item = 'R1C1' && Notify link newvalue = DDERequest(channel, item) ? 'R1C1 notify link: ' + newvalue CASE item = 'R1C2' && Automatic link newvalue = data ? 'R1C2 automatic link: ' + newvalue ENDCASE ELSE IF action != "TERMINATE" = DDETerminate(mchannum) ENDIF ENDIF

See Also