Reading Serial Data Into Word Using DDE

WinWedge DDE Server Settings

Remember to set WinWedge up in DDE Server Mode! Click here.

DDE Application Name: WinWord
DDE Topic: System
DDE Command: [GrabData]

Word Instructions

When you create a VBA macro or subroutine in Word and save it in the Global macro sheet, the name of the subroutine automatically becomes a valid Word DDE command. Create a new macro by selecting “Macro” from the TOOLS menu. When the dialog box appears prompting for a macro name, enter the name: GRABDATA and then click the button labeled “Create”. Enter the following code in the macro editor window:

 
Sub GrabData()
    Dim Chan As Long, MyData As String

    Chan = DDEInitiate("WinWedge", "COM1") ' open a link to WinWedge
    MyData = DDERequest(Chan, "Field(1)") ' get the data from WinWedge
    DDETerminate Chan ' close the link

    Selection.TypeText Text:=MyData ' enter the data into the open document
    Selection.TypeParagraph ' insert a paragraph marker (hard return)
End Sub

After you are done entering the code select “Close” from the FILE menu to save the macro.

This example sets up the Wedge to issue a DDE command ([GRABDATA()]) to Word after each data record is received from your serial device. This causes the GRABDATA subroutine to run which then performs a DDERequest back to the Wedge asking for the data in Field(1) in the Wedge Window. This data is returned to Word in the variable: MyData$. Once the data from the Wedge is in a variable, you can do whatever you like with it by including additional code of your own design. This example simply inserts the text in the MyData$ string variable into the open document and then inserts a paragraph marker.

The following code fragment shows how to transmit a string out the serial port from Word:

 
channel = DDEInitiate("WinWedge", "COM2") ' open a link to the Wedge
DDEExecute channel, "[Sendout('Test',13)]" ' transmit "Test" and a carriage return
DDETerminate channel ' close the link