'\"
'\" Copyright (c) 1997 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
'\" Copyright (c) 2001 ActiveState Corporation.
'\"
'\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution
'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
'\" 
'\" RCS: @(#) $Id: dde.n,v 1.1.1.1 2007/07/10 15:04:23 duncan Exp $
'\" 
'\" The definitions below are for supplemental macros used in Tcl/Tk
'\" manual entries.
'\"
'\" .AP type name in/out ?indent?
'\"	Start paragraph describing an argument to a library procedure.
'\"	type is type of argument (int, etc.), in/out is either "in", "out",
'\"	or "in/out" to describe whether procedure reads or modifies arg,
'\"	and indent is equivalent to second arg of .IP (shouldn't ever be
'\"	needed;  use .AS below instead)
'\"
'\" .AS ?type? ?name?
'\"	Give maximum sizes of arguments for setting tab stops.  Type and
'\"	name are examples of largest possible arguments that will be passed
'\"	to .AP later.  If args are omitted, default tab stops are used.
'\"
'\" .BS
'\"	Start box enclosure.  From here until next .BE, everything will be
'\"	enclosed in one large box.
'\"
'\" .BE
'\"	End of box enclosure.
'\"
'\" .CS
'\"	Begin code excerpt.
'\"
'\" .CE
'\"	End code excerpt.
'\"
'\" .VS ?version? ?br?
'\"	Begin vertical sidebar, for use in marking newly-changed parts
'\"	of man pages.  The first argument is ignored and used for recording
'\"	the version when the .VS was added, so that the sidebars can be
'\"	found and removed when they reach a certain age.  If another argument
'\"	is present, then a line break is forced before starting the sidebar.
'\"
'\" .VE
'\"	End of vertical sidebar.
'\"
'\" .DS
'\"	Begin an indented unfilled display.
'\"
'\" .DE
'\"	End of indented unfilled display.
'\"
'\" .SO
'\"	Start of list of standard options for a Tk widget.  The
'\"	options follow on successive lines, in four columns separated
'\"	by tabs.
'\"
'\" .SE
'\"	End of list of standard options for a Tk widget.
'\"
'\" .OP cmdName dbName dbClass
'\"	Start of description of a specific option.  cmdName gives the
'\"	option's name as specified in the class command, dbName gives
'\"	the option's name in the option database, and dbClass gives
'\"	the option's class in the option database.
'\"
'\" .UL arg1 arg2
'\"	Print arg1 underlined, then print arg2 normally.
'\"
'\" RCS: @(#) $Id: man.macros,v 1.1.1.1 2007/07/10 15:04:23 duncan Exp $
'\"
'\"	# Set up traps and other miscellaneous stuff for Tcl/Tk man pages.
.if t .wh -1.3i ^B
.nr ^l \n(.l
.ad b
'\"	# Start an argument description
.de AP
.ie !"\\$4"" .TP \\$4
.el \{\
.   ie !"\\$2"" .TP \\n()Cu
.   el          .TP 15
.\}
.ta \\n()Au \\n()Bu
.ie !"\\$3"" \{\
\&\\$1	\\fI\\$2\\fP	(\\$3)
.\".b
.\}
.el \{\
.br
.ie !"\\$2"" \{\
\&\\$1	\\fI\\$2\\fP
.\}
.el \{\
\&\\fI\\$1\\fP
.\}
.\}
..
'\"	# define tabbing values for .AP
.de AS
.nr )A 10n
.if !"\\$1"" .nr )A \\w'\\$1'u+3n
.nr )B \\n()Au+15n
.\"
.if !"\\$2"" .nr )B \\w'\\$2'u+\\n()Au+3n
.nr )C \\n()Bu+\\w'(in/out)'u+2n
..
.AS Tcl_Interp Tcl_CreateInterp in/out
'\"	# BS - start boxed text
'\"	# ^y = starting y location
'\"	# ^b = 1
.de BS
.br
.mk ^y
.nr ^b 1u
.if n .nf
.if n .ti 0
.if n \l'\\n(.lu\(ul'
.if n .fi
..
'\"	# BE - end boxed text (draw box now)
.de BE
.nf
.ti 0
.mk ^t
.ie n \l'\\n(^lu\(ul'
.el \{\
.\"	Draw four-sided box normally, but don't draw top of
.\"	box if the box started on an earlier page.
.ie !\\n(^b-1 \{\
\h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\l'\\n(^lu+3n\(ul'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\l'|0u-1.5n\(ul'
.\}
.el \}\
\h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\h'\\n(^lu+3n'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\l'|0u-1.5n\(ul'
.\}
.\}
.fi
.br
.nr ^b 0
..
'\"	# VS - start vertical sidebar
'\"	# ^Y = starting y location
'\"	# ^v = 1 (for troff;  for nroff this doesn't matter)
.de VS
.if !"\\$2"" .br
.mk ^Y
.ie n 'mc \s12\(br\s0
.el .nr ^v 1u
..
'\"	# VE - end of vertical sidebar
.de VE
.ie n 'mc
.el \{\
.ev 2
.nf
.ti 0
.mk ^t
\h'|\\n(^lu+3n'\L'|\\n(^Yu-1v\(bv'\v'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^Yu'\h'-|\\n(^lu+3n'
.sp -1
.fi
.ev
.\}
.nr ^v 0
..
'\"	# Special macro to handle page bottom:  finish off current
'\"	# box/sidebar if in box/sidebar mode, then invoked standard
'\"	# page bottom macro.
.de ^B
.ev 2
'ti 0
'nf
.mk ^t
.if \\n(^b \{\
.\"	Draw three-sided box if this is the box's first page,
.\"	draw two sides but no top otherwise.
.ie !\\n(^b-1 \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\l'\\n(^lu+3n\(ul'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\h'|0u'\c
.el \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\h'\\n(^lu+3n'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\h'|0u'\c
.\}
.if \\n(^v \{\
.nr ^x \\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^Yu
\kx\h'-\\nxu'\h'|\\n(^lu+3n'\ky\L'-\\n(^xu'\v'\\n(^xu'\h'|0u'\c
.\}
.bp
'fi
.ev
.if \\n(^b \{\
.mk ^y
.nr ^b 2
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.if \\n(^v \{\
.mk ^Y
.\}
..
'\"	# DS - begin display
.de DS
.RS
.nf
.sp
..
'\"	# DE - end display
.de DE
.fi
.RE
.sp
..
'\"	# SO - start of list of standard options
.de SO
.SH "STANDARD OPTIONS"
.LP
.nf
.ta 5.5c 11c
.ft B
..
'\"	# SE - end of list of standard options
.de SE
.fi
.ft R
.LP
See the \\fBoptions\\fR manual entry for details on the standard options.
..
'\"	# OP - start of full description for a single option
.de OP
.LP
.nf
.ta 4c
Command-Line Name:	\\fB\\$1\\fR
Database Name:	\\fB\\$2\\fR
Database Class:	\\fB\\$3\\fR
.fi
.IP
..
'\"	# CS - begin code excerpt
.de CS
.RS
.nf
.ta .25i .5i .75i 1i
..
'\"	# CE - end code excerpt
.de CE
.fi
.RE
..
.de UL
\\$1\l'|0\(ul'\\$2
..
.TH dde n 1.2 dde "Tcl Bundled Packages"
.BS
'\" Note:  do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
.SH NAME
dde \- Execute a Dynamic Data Exchange command
.SH SYNOPSIS
.sp
\fBpackage require dde 1.2\fR
.sp
\fBdde eval\fR ?\fB\-async\fR? \fIservice cmd\fR ?\fIarg ...\fR?
.sp
\fBdde execute\fR ?\fB\-async\fR? \fIservice topic data\fR
.sp
\fBdde poke \fIservice topic item data\fR
.sp
\fBdde request\fR ?\fB\-binary\fR? \fIservice topic data\fR
.sp
\fBdde servername\fR ?\fItopic\fR?
.sp
\fBdde services \fIservice topic\fR
.BE

.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
This command allows an application to send Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)
command when running under Microsoft Windows. Dynamic Data Exchange is
a mechanism where applications can exchange raw data. Each DDE
transaction needs a \fIservice name\fR and a \fItopic\fR. Both the
\fIservice name\fR and \fItopic\fR are application defined; Tcl uses
the service name \fBTclEval\fR, while the topic name is the name of the
interpreter given by \fBdde servername\fR. Other applications have their
own \fIservice name\fRs and \fItopic\fRs. For instance, Microsoft Excel
has the service name \fBExcel\fR.
.PP
The \fBeval\fR and \fBexecute\fR commands accept the option \fB\-async\fR:

.SH "DDE COMMANDS"
.PP
The following commands are a subset of the full Dynamic Data Exchange
set of commands.
.TP
\fBdde servername \fR?\fItopic\fR?
\fBdde servername\fR registers the interpreter as a DDE server with
the service name \fBTclEval\fR and the topic name specified by \fItopic\fR.
If no \fItopic\fR is given, \fBdde servername\fR returns the name
of the current topic or the empty string if it is not registered as a service.
.TP
\fBdde execute\fR ?\fB\-async\fR? \fIservice topic data\fR
\fBdde execute\fR takes the \fIdata\fR and sends it to the server indicated
by \fIservice\fR with the topic indicated by \fItopic\fR. Typically,
\fIservice\fR is the name of an application, and \fItopic\fR is a file to
work on.  The \fIdata\fR field is given to the remote application.
Typically, the application treats the \fIdata\fR field as a script, and the
script is run in the application.  The \fB\-async\fR option requests
asynchronous invocation.  The command returns an error message if the
script did not run, unless the \fB\-async\fR flag was used, in which case
the command returns immediately with no error.
.TP
\fBdde poke \fIservice topic item data\fR
\fBdde poke\fR passes the \fIdata\fR to the server indicated by
\fIservice\fR using the \fItopic\fR and \fIitem\fR specified.  Typically,
\fIservice\fR is the name of an application.  \fItopic\fR is application
specific but can be a command to the server or the name of a file to work
on.  The \fIitem\fR is also application specific and is often not used, but
it must always be non-null.  The \fIdata\fR field is given to the remote
application.
.TP
\fBdde request\fR ?\fB\-binary\fR? \fIservice topic item\fR
\fBdde request\fR is typically used to get the value of something; the
value of a cell in Microsoft Excel or the text of a selection in
Microsoft Word. \fIservice\fR is typically the name of an application,
\fItopic\fR is typically the name of the file, and \fIitem\fR is
application-specific. The command returns the value of \fIitem\fR as
defined in the application.  Normally this is interpreted to be a
string with terminating null.  If \fB\-binary\fR is specified, the
result is returned as a byte array.
.TP
\fBdde services \fIservice topic\fR
\fBdde services\fR returns a list of service-topic pairs that
currently exist on the machine. If \fIservice\fR and \fItopic\fR are
both null strings ({}), then all service-topic pairs currently
available on the system are returned. If \fIservice\fR is null and
\fItopic\fR is not, then all services with the specified topic are
returned. If \fIservice\fR is not null and \fItopic\fR is, all topics
for a given service are returned. If both are not null, if that
service-topic pair currently exists, it is returned; otherwise, null
is returned.
.TP
\fBdde eval\fR ?\fB\-async\fR? \fItopic cmd \fR?\fIarg arg ...\fR?
\fBdde eval\fR evaluates a command and its arguments using the interpreter
specified by \fItopic\fR. The DDE service must be the \fBTclEval\fR
service.  The \fB\-async\fR option requests asynchronous invocation.  The
command returns an error message if the script did not run, unless the
\fB\-async\fR flag was used, in which case the command returns immediately
with no error.  This command can be used to replace \fBsend\fR on Windows.

.SH "DDE AND TCL"
A Tcl interpreter always has a service name of \fBTclEval\fR.  Each
different interpreter of all running Tcl applications must be
given a unique
name specified by \fBdde servername\fR. Each interp is available as a
DDE topic only if the \fBdde servername\fR command was used to set the
name of the topic for each interp. So a \fBdde services TclEval {}\fR
command will return a list of service-topic pairs, where each of the
currently running interps will be a topic.
.PP
When Tcl processes a \fBdde execute\fR command, the data for the
execute is run as a script in the interp named by the topic of the
\fBdde execute\fR command.
.PP
When Tcl processes a \fBdde request\fR command, it returns the value of the
variable given in the dde command in the context of the interp named by the
dde topic. Tcl reserves the variable \fB$TCLEVAL$EXECUTE$RESULT\fR for
internal use, and \fBdde request\fR commands for that variable will give
unpredictable results.
.PP
An external application which wishes to run a script in Tcl should have
that script store its result in a variable, run the \fBdde execute\fR
command, and the run \fBdde request\fR to get the value of the
variable.
.PP
When using DDE, be careful to ensure that the event queue is flushed
using either \fBupdate\fR or \fBvwait\fR.  This happens by default
when using \fBwish\fR unless a blocking command is called (such as \fBexec\fR
without adding the \fB&\fR to place the process in the background).
If for any reason the event queue is not flushed, DDE commands may
hang until the event queue is flushed.  This can create a deadlock
situation.

.SH EXAMPLE
This asks Internet Explorer (which must already be running) to go to a
particularly important website:
.CS
package require dde
\fBdde execute\fR iexplore WWW_OpenURL http://www.tcl.tk/
.CE

.SH "SEE ALSO"
tk(n), winfo(n), send(n)

.SH KEYWORDS
application, dde, name, remote execution