DDEInitiate hangs

[Ann]

I have the following problem:
I have a Visual Basic Program with a reference to excel.
In that program i'm executing the command:
chan = DDEInitiate("Winword", "System")
Till now it work(ed)s fine except for 1 user: it worked
till last week and suddenly it stops working: the program
hangs on this command. I tried to re-install word, excel,
reboot the pc, .... Nothing helps. I tried to execute
exactly the same command in VBA (in Excel) and also here,
the program hangs. Has anyone experience with this
problem or how can it be solved?

 

[Jeff Standen]

I'm no expert but I've tried using DDE for talking to a terminal
application. From what I've read, DDE is a bit fiddly and occaisionally
hangs or crashes for very arcane reasons - mostly because it is
asynchronous. Would it not be possible to use COM instead?

Jeff