Hi everybody. I'm kinda in the process of learning how to deal with this DDE thing. Particularly DDEML. I have so far managed to understand(sort of) the way I get handle strings, send them through functions to initialize and unitialize, connect with single and wild connections and just now I managed to get some answers from some system topics implemented in Excel and WinWord. Well. I only see a set of items they handle, maybe not all, and have been wondering if DDE is old technology and if there are other ways to communicate between programs that are both simpler and more efficient.
While I think it has been a good exercise so far, I feel I'm at a point that if I found something easier to do the same job with easier steps I might follow that new path and leave this one as it is at least for the while.
As I read some articles, there was one that questioned that and I heard words that seem to be related somehow:
OLE - does is replace DDEML?
COM - is it dated too? (does it require installation)?
NET - this seems to require a complete new installation and I wouldn't appreciate such a solution for now as many computers don't have the framework installed (if I can say that)
thanks for any thoughts that might help me guide my next steps on this process.
I'd appreciate to learn how often you use any of these technologies.
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This probably won't help you immediately, but in my view, you probably don't need any of that stuff. You might start with this and everything that logically follows:
OLE - does is replace DDEML?
COM - is it dated too? (does it require installation)?
NET - this seems to require a complete new installation and I wouldn't appreciate such a solution for now as many computers don't have the framework installed (if I can say that)
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"COM - is it dated too? (does it require installation)?"
No, it's not dated, and no, it doesn't require installation. OLE and COM work together. There are several versions of OLE (again, see the Wikipedia page), and COM was updated to DCOM, but that doesn't mean that either of them is outdated. Simply restrict your usage of features to early versions for better compatibility with old Windows versions.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_Model to get an idea how OLE and COM work together.
"NET - this seems to require a complete new installation and I wouldn't appreciate such a solution for now as many computers don't have the framework installed (if I can say that)"
Windows Vista, which appeared in 2007, is the first Windows version that supports .NET applications out of the box. IMHO you should wait a few years before you actually use .NET as a programmer.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Hi everybody. I'm kinda in the process of learning how to deal with this DDE thing. Particularly DDEML. I have so far managed to understand(sort of) the way I get handle strings, send them through functions to initialize and unitialize, connect with single and wild connections and just now I managed to get some answers from some system topics implemented in Excel and WinWord. Well. I only see a set of items they handle, maybe not all, and have been wondering if DDE is old technology and if there are other ways to communicate between programs that are both simpler and more efficient.
While I think it has been a good exercise so far, I feel I'm at a point that if I found something easier to do the same job with easier steps I might follow that new path and leave this one as it is at least for the while.
As I read some articles, there was one that questioned that and I heard words that seem to be related somehow:
OLE - does is replace DDEML?
COM - is it dated too? (does it require installation)?
NET - this seems to require a complete new installation and I wouldn't appreciate such a solution for now as many computers don't have the framework installed (if I can say that)
thanks for any thoughts that might help me guide my next steps on this process.
I'd appreciate to learn how often you use any of these technologies.
Somewhat old article, but still interesting:
http://www.relisoft.com/win32/olerant.html
I suggest you just cut your losses now and just pickup wxWidgets.
Kip
thank you both for your answers and links.
I have had a quick look on both and have already bookmarked them too.
This probably won't help you immediately, but in my view, you probably don't need any of that stuff. You might start with this and everything that logically follows:
http://www.ubuntu.com/download
Kip
Kip: ;-)
A bit more on-topic:
http://www.osnews.com/story.php/17369/Please-Feel-Free-to-Stop-Using-DDE/
"DDE has been dead as a shell interface for over ten years."
Hope that helps!
as for the latter part of my question?
OLE - does is replace DDEML?
COM - is it dated too? (does it require installation)?
NET - this seems to require a complete new installation and I wouldn't appreciate such a solution for now as many computers don't have the framework installed (if I can say that)
"OLE - does is replace DDEML?"
In short, yes. Read the Wikipedia entry for details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_Linking_and_Embedding
"COM - is it dated too? (does it require installation)?"
No, it's not dated, and no, it doesn't require installation. OLE and COM work together. There are several versions of OLE (again, see the Wikipedia page), and COM was updated to DCOM, but that doesn't mean that either of them is outdated. Simply restrict your usage of features to early versions for better compatibility with old Windows versions.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_Model to get an idea how OLE and COM work together.
"NET - this seems to require a complete new installation and I wouldn't appreciate such a solution for now as many computers don't have the framework installed (if I can say that)"
Windows Vista, which appeared in 2007, is the first Windows version that supports .NET applications out of the box. IMHO you should wait a few years before you actually use .NET as a programmer.