PCBUILD Archives

Personal Computer Hardware discussion List

PCBUILD@LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Dave Gillett <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 23 Dec 2000 02:16:28 -0800
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (50 lines)
On 20 Dec 00, at 0:49, Rick Glazier wrote:

> Occasionally, I get a DDE Server Error on shutdown of Win95b.
>
> I also once got a DDE Initiate error on installing the Full
> version of MS DataLink v2 software for their Timex watch. (You only
> install that once, and the other error I had had for a while before
> that...)
>
> From what I could understand from the MS site, DDE is a part of
> some program running on my computer, (I think.) What types of
> programs should I be checking into?
>
> OR, is it also(?) used internally by Windows to let the different
> sub-systems talk to each other.?
>
> Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this.
>
>        Rick Glazier

  DDE is a terribly primitive/funky scheme for passing data between
programs, dating back at least as far as Win 3.x.  It got somewhat
easier to use when Microsoft provided DDEML.DLL, the DDE Management
Library.

  In general, 32-bit software should be using OLE2/COM/ActiveX for
this kind of thing.  About the only remaining use for it is in
installers, especially those that still use 16-bit code.  For a long
time, the documented way to create a "program group" was via DDE, and
Win95 (and everything since) implements this same interface to create
folders on the Programs menu.

  Establishing a DDE connection involves three layers of internal
handshaking, which must be properly undone in reverse order.  I
recall using DDE to drive the "Chello" 16-bit browser to make an HTML
display window in a program (around 1994).  Chello turned out to have
a bug in the code for undoing the final layer of handshaking, and I
eventually wound up leaving it running but hidden when my program was
done, simply because I couldn't shut it down without inflicting an
ugly error message on the user.

  I have no trouble believing that there is old code out there that
still uses DDE and sometimes doesn't get it quite right....

David G

                         PCBUILD's List Owner's:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>

ATOM RSS1 RSS2