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Consuming DDE and providing XML

SCENARIO

A factory production line uses RSLINX software to gather data from PCI cards and expose it through DDE.

An Excel spreadsheet consumes this via Copy and Paste of the link from RSLINX.

This spreadsheet is then saved in XML format.

This XML file is in turn consumed by a web page that displays the data gathered by the RSLINX software. The web page is set to refresh at 30s intervals.

PROBLEM

The Excel spreadsheet is updated in real time (you can see the numbers change as the data is pumped in by RSLINX), but of course the XML file is not updated until the file is saved, so the data on the web page is not updated unless and until the spreadsheet is saved.

The client obtained a cheap "autosave" Excel plug-in to save the spreadsheet periodically, but it doesn't work reliably.

DESIRED SOLUTION

Remove the Excel middleware and replace it with an applet that will consume the DDE data directly and transform it into the XML file required by the web page. I was thinking of a windows service or something similar. They don't want a console application/scheduled task solution. The budget is TINY.

ACCEPTABLE SOLUTION

A reliable means of saving the XML file periodically. The most important word in that sentence is "reliable". A background timer in a macro? A save triggered by a cell's Change event firing?

Reply to
teddysnips
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Why are you using DDE? OPC would be much more useful..

Cameron:-)

Reply to
Cameron Dorrough

Depends what's wrong the current autosave plug-in. Can you access the code and correct/improve it ?

If you write your own code with a timer, you can do whatever you want. You are still limited by Excel overall stability, which generally is pretty good, but it was never designed to run 24/7.

Apart from that, VB6 supports DDE and XML output can be achieved easily. You could write it as a service also. Depends how much effort you want to put in.

NickHK

Reply to
NickHK

On 23 Nov 2006 05:52:49 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com proclaimed to the world:

I had this problem and solved it a bit differently which worked in my application. It might spark an idea you can use within the spreadsheet. I linked a spreadsheet field to the data as you have letting it update constantly. I had one field for live force data and another for live position data. I wanted to take a force reading when the position field reached a value. I was gathering data for a xy graph. I wanted 10 points evenly spaced between say 1 and 100 cm, so I triggered a force read at 10, 20,30 etc. I wrote a formula that read something like If A1(position instantaneous) =A2(trigger) then A3=A4(force instantaneous) and A5=A1. This formula was copied down rows for each value I wanted the capture.

I had to fine tune the thing to get what I wanted. For instance if the position changed so fast as to never read 10, then you would not capture a force reading at that position. I cured this by making the formula a range of values. I added the ability to fill in the trigger points automatically and an external trigger for the start of the test and a timer to time out if the test did not complete within some value. One the last point was captured, I had that event trigger a save command. These spreadsheets were used as test reports in a factories QA Lab. No third party software was used. The data came from an internal IO card. It worked amazingly well. As long as the computer was running, all the operator had to do is push a hard switch to start the test. He did not even have to have the monitor on. It was idiot proof.

Reply to
Paul M

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