DDE save.as command works interactively but not in batch mode

[Bert_O]

Hi everyone,

I've read that DDE is an older way to populate an Excel file, but it has been working fine until now.

I am running a program that has been running using Task Scheduler without any issues (Windows 7 OS).  The new PC that I am now using has been upgraded to Windows 10.  I can run the DDE process interactively without any issues, but when I am running the process through Task Scheduler, I am getting an error when the Excel file is trying to be saved.  The error is listed below the code snippet.  Does anyone have any insights or might have had a similar problem?  Is Windows 10 the issue?  The SAS version being used is 9.4 TS Level 1M4. 

Thank you for any help anyone can provide.

FILENAME HH DDE 'EXCEL|SYSTEM';
DATA _NULL_;
  FILE HH;
            
  PUT "[RUN(""&xlssheet.!MACRO1"",FALSE)]";
  PUT "[save.AS(""...\&MONTH. &today.\Audit_&&E&I...xls"")]";
  PUT '[QUIT()]';
RUN;
%END;
%mend;

ERROR: Physical file does not exist, EXCEL|SYSTEM.
NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.

[Kurt_Bremser]

We're not using stones and chisels anymore, so stop using DDE. It may not be dead, but it smells mighty funny.

Windows has the nice "feature" of running scheduled jobs in a different environment than the interactive ones (total idiocy, but that's Microsoft), so it looks as if it can't find Excel because of a missing PATH to it. Try using the absolute path to the Excel executable (starting with C:\)