Question : DDE Over Network

I'm trying to talk to another application over my Microsoft network.  Application 1 is running all the time on Win 95 and is set up as a DDE Server.  Application 2 is running on a WIN NT Server 4 and I want it to connect via DDE to Application 1.  I believe I need to use NETDDE but can't find any information on it.Any help gratefully received.Darren

Answer : DDE Over Network

If NetDDE is running on NT, then you can verify this by going to the Services icon, and see that the two services, Network DDE and Network DDE DSDm are starting automatically. And, of course, you've verified that Chat or Hearts works between the two machines in question (highly recommended before proceeding) ...
 
Go to the NT server and run ddeshare.exe. Notice how Chat, Hearts, etc. have entries there. On Win95 you have to hack the registry to set up your DDE shares (actually you can run the WFW 3.11 version of ddeshare on Win95 to see how to set up the registry). Thus, it is easier to use WinNT for your DDE Server.
So you have to add a share for your application: on NT, run ddeshare; click Add a Share; enter your application name, and * for the topic name, in the Old Style box; click the Permissions button, and grant Full Control to Everyone,then OK; now highlight your newly added share for yout application, then click on Trust Share; click all options, and enter a zero forthe Cmd show overide, then OK.

On thing you may want to check in the code of your application is that the when the client INITIATES the first part of the DDE conversation, that the UNC for the server (say NODE2) is included, for example: \\NODE2\your_dde_server|some_topic, this being the DDE syntax \\NODENAME\APPLICATION|TOPIC!ITEM. After the  DDE conversation between NODE1(client) and NODE2(server) starts, the UNC (\\NODENAME or \\NODE2) is not necessary.

For a good primer on this, see http://www.visualautomation.com/info/tcntdde1.htm