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Programming Interfaces
External Program Interfaces : Windows Dynamic Data Exchange : Using the DDE protocol : ABL statements for DDE conversations
 
ABL statements for DDE conversations
OpenEdge provides several ABL statements to open and manage DDE conversations. The following table lists these DDE statements.
Table 56. DDE statements
Statement
Description
DDE ADVISE
Creates or removes a link to a DDE server data item. Creating a link allows ABL to trigger a DDE-NOTIFY event when the data item changes value.
DDE EXECUTE
Sends one or more application commands to the DDE server to execute.
DDE GET
Retrieves the new value of a linked data item in response to a DDE-NOTIFY event for the data item. You typically invoke this command in a DDE frame trigger block for the DDE-NOTIFY event.
DDE INITIATE
Opens a DDE conversation.
DDE REQUEST
Requests the current value of a server data item.
DDE SEND
Sends a new value to a server data item.
DDE TERMINATE
Closes a DDE conversation.
The following sections provide more information on how ABL structures DDE conversations and how to use these ABL statements to open, manage, and close DDE conversations. For a complete description of each statement, see OpenEdge Development: ABL Reference.