SAS stops responding when using simple Excel DDE code

[SASthruMind]

Hello,

Please help.  I am stuck, and I am trying to determine if my code is faulty or for some reason Excel 2016 and SAS 9.4 is not opening dde session.  Here is my simple code.

options noxwait noxsync;

filename test dde 'excel|[C:Desktop\example.xlsx]sheet1!r2c1:r2c2' notab;

data _null_;

file test;

a='test one';

b='test two';

put a $15. '09'x b $15.;

run;

I have not used DDE in a little while, but I believe this code worked before.  Thank you.

[ballardw]

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@SASthruMind wrote:

Hello,

Please help.  I am stuck, and I am trying to determine if my code is faulty or for some reason Excel 2016 and SAS 9.4 is not opening dde session.  Here is my simple code.

options noxwait noxsync;

filename test dde 'excel|[C:Desktop\example.xlsx]sheet1!r2c1:r2c2' notab;

data _null_;

file test;

a='test one';

b='test two';

put a $15. '09'x b $15.;

run;

I have not used DDE in a little while, but I believe this code worked before.  Thank you.

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The issue may be other software related. I don't use a lot of DDE but had one process using DDE as a work-around from not having the SAS/Access to Pcfiles for Excel. Code that ran last year didn't run on the same machine with the same version of SAS a year later. After a lot of work it was determined the application Cisco Jabber that had been installed interfered with DDE links. And closing down Jabber was not sufficient to allow the DDE to work. The process  had to be killed using Task Manager.

I have seen a comment or two that possibly other communications programs may have similar impacts on SAS DDE links.

If the DDE is primarily for output you might investigate if you can get the desired results with an ODS EXCEL destination though cell addressing may be difficult.

Another issue arises with Office 365 as there is not longer an actual Excel.exe file installed locally.

[SASKiwi]

As I understand it, you need to have an Excel session open before using DDE. Either you open Excel via an 'X' command in your program (which you don't have currently) or you can open it manually first before running your SAS program.

[Kurt_Bremser]

DDE is ancient and no longer supported by MS. Use more modern tools for creating Excel files, if such is necessary at all.

[nguyen0824]

Just because it's ancient doesn't mean it shouldn't be used. SAS DDE is still supported and documented in SAS 9.4, OP and I paid for SAS and expects it's processes to work.  My department doesn't have the manpower or budget to adjust our current legacy processes so your response doesn't do anybody any good except sound like an entitled demeaning programmer.

Thanks, have a nice life.

[Tom]

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@nguyen0824 wrote:

Just because it's ancient doesn't mean it shouldn't be used. SAS DDE is still supported and documented in SAS 9.4, OP and I paid for SAS and expects it's processes to work.  My department doesn't have the manpower or budget to adjust our current legacy processes so your response doesn't do anybody any good except sound like an entitled demeaning programmer.

Thanks, have a nice life.

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The problem is not with SAS. It is with DDE itself. That is a Microsoft issue, not a SAS issue.

[Kurt_Bremser]

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@Tom wrote:

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The problem is not with SAS. It is with DDE itself. That is a Microsoft issue, not a SAS issue.

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Sadly, for all too many people in this world MS is a sacred cow that can never fail, against all proof to the contrary.

In older times, it was said that a CIO would never be fired for buying IBM. Then MS took that role, and we still live with the consequences of that fallacy.

[Kurt_Bremser]

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@nguyen0824 wrote:

 My department doesn't have the manpower or budget to adjust our current legacy processes s

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Dumb response. Any cent you don't invest now to get rid of at least the ancient MS crap will come back as a massive loss in the future. The future (and that does surely not include DDE any longer, ask MS) begins NOW.

The fact that your "department" is critically underfunded to support further development tells me a lot about your managers. And probably you, as it is your duty against your employer to make sure that critical development is not neglected.

[SASKiwi]

@nguyen0824 - For DDE to work you need to have both SAS and Excel installed on your client computer (PC, Laptop). It won't work if you use remote SAS servers which is the majority of SAS sites these days. SAS's architecture has moved on while Excel DDE has not.