| 1 | '\" |
| 2 | '\" Copyright (c) 1997 Sun Microsystems, Inc. |
| 3 | '\" Copyright (c) 2001 ActiveState Corporation. |
| 4 | '\" |
| 5 | '\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution |
| 6 | '\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES. |
| 7 | '\" |
| 8 | '\" RCS: @(#) $Id: dde.n,v 1.8.2.4 2004/12/03 00:37:21 hobbs Exp $ |
| 9 | '\" |
| 10 | '\" The definitions below are for supplemental macros used in Tcl/Tk |
| 11 | '\" manual entries. |
| 12 | '\" |
| 13 | '\" .AP type name in/out ?indent? |
| 14 | '\" Start paragraph describing an argument to a library procedure. |
| 15 | '\" type is type of argument (int, etc.), in/out is either "in", "out", |
| 16 | '\" or "in/out" to describe whether procedure reads or modifies arg, |
| 17 | '\" and indent is equivalent to second arg of .IP (shouldn't ever be |
| 18 | '\" needed; use .AS below instead) |
| 19 | '\" |
| 20 | '\" .AS ?type? ?name? |
| 21 | '\" Give maximum sizes of arguments for setting tab stops. Type and |
| 22 | '\" name are examples of largest possible arguments that will be passed |
| 23 | '\" to .AP later. If args are omitted, default tab stops are used. |
| 24 | '\" |
| 25 | '\" .BS |
| 26 | '\" Start box enclosure. From here until next .BE, everything will be |
| 27 | '\" enclosed in one large box. |
| 28 | '\" |
| 29 | '\" .BE |
| 30 | '\" End of box enclosure. |
| 31 | '\" |
| 32 | '\" .CS |
| 33 | '\" Begin code excerpt. |
| 34 | '\" |
| 35 | '\" .CE |
| 36 | '\" End code excerpt. |
| 37 | '\" |
| 38 | '\" .VS ?version? ?br? |
| 39 | '\" Begin vertical sidebar, for use in marking newly-changed parts |
| 40 | '\" of man pages. The first argument is ignored and used for recording |
| 41 | '\" the version when the .VS was added, so that the sidebars can be |
| 42 | '\" found and removed when they reach a certain age. If another argument |
| 43 | '\" is present, then a line break is forced before starting the sidebar. |
| 44 | '\" |
| 45 | '\" .VE |
| 46 | '\" End of vertical sidebar. |
| 47 | '\" |
| 48 | '\" .DS |
| 49 | '\" Begin an indented unfilled display. |
| 50 | '\" |
| 51 | '\" .DE |
| 52 | '\" End of indented unfilled display. |
| 53 | '\" |
| 54 | '\" .SO |
| 55 | '\" Start of list of standard options for a Tk widget. The |
| 56 | '\" options follow on successive lines, in four columns separated |
| 57 | '\" by tabs. |
| 58 | '\" |
| 59 | '\" .SE |
| 60 | '\" End of list of standard options for a Tk widget. |
| 61 | '\" |
| 62 | '\" .OP cmdName dbName dbClass |
| 63 | '\" Start of description of a specific option. cmdName gives the |
| 64 | '\" option's name as specified in the class command, dbName gives |
| 65 | '\" the option's name in the option database, and dbClass gives |
| 66 | '\" the option's class in the option database. |
| 67 | '\" |
| 68 | '\" .UL arg1 arg2 |
| 69 | '\" Print arg1 underlined, then print arg2 normally. |
| 70 | '\" |
| 71 | '\" RCS: @(#) $Id: man.macros,v 1.4 2000/08/25 06:18:32 ericm Exp $ |
| 72 | '\" |
| 73 | '\" # Set up traps and other miscellaneous stuff for Tcl/Tk man pages. |
| 74 | .if t .wh -1.3i ^B |
| 75 | .nr ^l \n(.l |
| 76 | .ad b |
| 77 | '\" # Start an argument description |
| 78 | .de AP |
| 79 | .ie !"\\$4"" .TP \\$4 |
| 80 | .el \{\ |
| 81 | . ie !"\\$2"" .TP \\n()Cu |
| 82 | . el .TP 15 |
| 83 | .\} |
| 84 | .ta \\n()Au \\n()Bu |
| 85 | .ie !"\\$3"" \{\ |
| 86 | \&\\$1 \\fI\\$2\\fP (\\$3) |
| 87 | .\".b |
| 88 | .\} |
| 89 | .el \{\ |
| 90 | .br |
| 91 | .ie !"\\$2"" \{\ |
| 92 | \&\\$1 \\fI\\$2\\fP |
| 93 | .\} |
| 94 | .el \{\ |
| 95 | \&\\fI\\$1\\fP |
| 96 | .\} |
| 97 | .\} |
| 98 | .. |
| 99 | '\" # define tabbing values for .AP |
| 100 | .de AS |
| 101 | .nr )A 10n |
| 102 | .if !"\\$1"" .nr )A \\w'\\$1'u+3n |
| 103 | .nr )B \\n()Au+15n |
| 104 | .\" |
| 105 | .if !"\\$2"" .nr )B \\w'\\$2'u+\\n()Au+3n |
| 106 | .nr )C \\n()Bu+\\w'(in/out)'u+2n |
| 107 | .. |
| 108 | .AS Tcl_Interp Tcl_CreateInterp in/out |
| 109 | '\" # BS - start boxed text |
| 110 | '\" # ^y = starting y location |
| 111 | '\" # ^b = 1 |
| 112 | .de BS |
| 113 | .br |
| 114 | .mk ^y |
| 115 | .nr ^b 1u |
| 116 | .if n .nf |
| 117 | .if n .ti 0 |
| 118 | .if n \l'\\n(.lu\(ul' |
| 119 | .if n .fi |
| 120 | .. |
| 121 | '\" # BE - end boxed text (draw box now) |
| 122 | .de BE |
| 123 | .nf |
| 124 | .ti 0 |
| 125 | .mk ^t |
| 126 | .ie n \l'\\n(^lu\(ul' |
| 127 | .el \{\ |
| 128 | .\" Draw four-sided box normally, but don't draw top of |
| 129 | .\" box if the box started on an earlier page. |
| 130 | .ie !\\n(^b-1 \{\ |
| 131 | \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\l'\\n(^lu+3n\(ul'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\l'|0u-1.5n\(ul' |
| 132 | .\} |
| 133 | .el \}\ |
| 134 | \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\h'\\n(^lu+3n'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\l'|0u-1.5n\(ul' |
| 135 | .\} |
| 136 | .\} |
| 137 | .fi |
| 138 | .br |
| 139 | .nr ^b 0 |
| 140 | .. |
| 141 | '\" # VS - start vertical sidebar |
| 142 | '\" # ^Y = starting y location |
| 143 | '\" # ^v = 1 (for troff; for nroff this doesn't matter) |
| 144 | .de VS |
| 145 | .if !"\\$2"" .br |
| 146 | .mk ^Y |
| 147 | .ie n 'mc \s12\(br\s0 |
| 148 | .el .nr ^v 1u |
| 149 | .. |
| 150 | '\" # VE - end of vertical sidebar |
| 151 | .de VE |
| 152 | .ie n 'mc |
| 153 | .el \{\ |
| 154 | .ev 2 |
| 155 | .nf |
| 156 | .ti 0 |
| 157 | .mk ^t |
| 158 | \h'|\\n(^lu+3n'\L'|\\n(^Yu-1v\(bv'\v'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^Yu'\h'-|\\n(^lu+3n' |
| 159 | .sp -1 |
| 160 | .fi |
| 161 | .ev |
| 162 | .\} |
| 163 | .nr ^v 0 |
| 164 | .. |
| 165 | '\" # Special macro to handle page bottom: finish off current |
| 166 | '\" # box/sidebar if in box/sidebar mode, then invoked standard |
| 167 | '\" # page bottom macro. |
| 168 | .de ^B |
| 169 | .ev 2 |
| 170 | 'ti 0 |
| 171 | 'nf |
| 172 | .mk ^t |
| 173 | .if \\n(^b \{\ |
| 174 | .\" Draw three-sided box if this is the box's first page, |
| 175 | .\" draw two sides but no top otherwise. |
| 176 | .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 |
| 177 | .el \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\h'\\n(^lu+3n'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\h'|0u'\c |
| 178 | .\} |
| 179 | .if \\n(^v \{\ |
| 180 | .nr ^x \\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^Yu |
| 181 | \kx\h'-\\nxu'\h'|\\n(^lu+3n'\ky\L'-\\n(^xu'\v'\\n(^xu'\h'|0u'\c |
| 182 | .\} |
| 183 | .bp |
| 184 | 'fi |
| 185 | .ev |
| 186 | .if \\n(^b \{\ |
| 187 | .mk ^y |
| 188 | .nr ^b 2 |
| 189 | .\} |
| 190 | .if \\n(^v \{\ |
| 191 | .mk ^Y |
| 192 | .\} |
| 193 | .. |
| 194 | '\" # DS - begin display |
| 195 | .de DS |
| 196 | .RS |
| 197 | .nf |
| 198 | .sp |
| 199 | .. |
| 200 | '\" # DE - end display |
| 201 | .de DE |
| 202 | .fi |
| 203 | .RE |
| 204 | .sp |
| 205 | .. |
| 206 | '\" # SO - start of list of standard options |
| 207 | .de SO |
| 208 | .SH "STANDARD OPTIONS" |
| 209 | .LP |
| 210 | .nf |
| 211 | .ta 5.5c 11c |
| 212 | .ft B |
| 213 | .. |
| 214 | '\" # SE - end of list of standard options |
| 215 | .de SE |
| 216 | .fi |
| 217 | .ft R |
| 218 | .LP |
| 219 | See the \\fBoptions\\fR manual entry for details on the standard options. |
| 220 | .. |
| 221 | '\" # OP - start of full description for a single option |
| 222 | .de OP |
| 223 | .LP |
| 224 | .nf |
| 225 | .ta 4c |
| 226 | Command-Line Name: \\fB\\$1\\fR |
| 227 | Database Name: \\fB\\$2\\fR |
| 228 | Database Class: \\fB\\$3\\fR |
| 229 | .fi |
| 230 | .IP |
| 231 | .. |
| 232 | '\" # CS - begin code excerpt |
| 233 | .de CS |
| 234 | .RS |
| 235 | .nf |
| 236 | .ta .25i .5i .75i 1i |
| 237 | .. |
| 238 | '\" # CE - end code excerpt |
| 239 | .de CE |
| 240 | .fi |
| 241 | .RE |
| 242 | .. |
| 243 | .de UL |
| 244 | \\$1\l'|0\(ul'\\$2 |
| 245 | .. |
| 246 | .TH dde n 1.2 dde "Tcl Bundled Packages" |
| 247 | .BS |
| 248 | '\" Note: do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below! |
| 249 | .SH NAME |
| 250 | dde \- Execute a Dynamic Data Exchange command |
| 251 | .SH SYNOPSIS |
| 252 | .sp |
| 253 | \fBpackage require dde 1.2\fR |
| 254 | .sp |
| 255 | \fBdde eval\fR ?\fB\-async\fR? \fIservice cmd\fR ?\fIarg ...\fR? |
| 256 | .sp |
| 257 | \fBdde execute\fR ?\fB\-async\fR? \fIservice topic data\fR |
| 258 | .sp |
| 259 | \fBdde poke \fIservice topic item data\fR |
| 260 | .sp |
| 261 | \fBdde request\fR ?\fB\-binary\fR? \fIservice topic data\fR |
| 262 | .sp |
| 263 | \fBdde servername\fR ?\fItopic\fR? |
| 264 | .sp |
| 265 | \fBdde services \fIservice topic\fR |
| 266 | .BE |
| 267 | |
| 268 | .SH DESCRIPTION |
| 269 | .PP |
| 270 | This command allows an application to send Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) |
| 271 | command when running under Microsoft Windows. Dynamic Data Exchange is |
| 272 | a mechanism where applications can exchange raw data. Each DDE |
| 273 | transaction needs a \fIservice name\fR and a \fItopic\fR. Both the |
| 274 | \fIservice name\fR and \fItopic\fR are application defined; Tcl uses |
| 275 | the service name \fBTclEval\fR, while the topic name is the name of the |
| 276 | interpreter given by \fBdde servername\fR. Other applications have their |
| 277 | own \fIservice name\fRs and \fItopic\fRs. For instance, Microsoft Excel |
| 278 | has the service name \fBExcel\fR. |
| 279 | .PP |
| 280 | The \fBeval\fR and \fBexecute\fR commands accept the option \fB\-async\fR: |
| 281 | |
| 282 | .SH "DDE COMMANDS" |
| 283 | .PP |
| 284 | The following commands are a subset of the full Dynamic Data Exchange |
| 285 | set of commands. |
| 286 | .TP |
| 287 | \fBdde servername \fR?\fItopic\fR? |
| 288 | \fBdde servername\fR registers the interpreter as a DDE server with |
| 289 | the service name \fBTclEval\fR and the topic name specified by \fItopic\fR. |
| 290 | If no \fItopic\fR is given, \fBdde servername\fR returns the name |
| 291 | of the current topic or the empty string if it is not registered as a service. |
| 292 | .TP |
| 293 | \fBdde execute\fR ?\fB\-async\fR? \fIservice topic data\fR |
| 294 | \fBdde execute\fR takes the \fIdata\fR and sends it to the server indicated |
| 295 | by \fIservice\fR with the topic indicated by \fItopic\fR. Typically, |
| 296 | \fIservice\fR is the name of an application, and \fItopic\fR is a file to |
| 297 | work on. The \fIdata\fR field is given to the remote application. |
| 298 | Typically, the application treats the \fIdata\fR field as a script, and the |
| 299 | script is run in the application. The \fB\-async\fR option requests |
| 300 | asynchronous invocation. The command returns an error message if the |
| 301 | script did not run, unless the \fB\-async\fR flag was used, in which case |
| 302 | the command returns immediately with no error. |
| 303 | .TP |
| 304 | \fBdde poke \fIservice topic item data\fR |
| 305 | \fBdde poke\fR passes the \fIdata\fR to the server indicated by |
| 306 | \fIservice\fR using the \fItopic\fR and \fIitem\fR specified. Typically, |
| 307 | \fIservice\fR is the name of an application. \fItopic\fR is application |
| 308 | specific but can be a command to the server or the name of a file to work |
| 309 | on. The \fIitem\fR is also application specific and is often not used, but |
| 310 | it must always be non-null. The \fIdata\fR field is given to the remote |
| 311 | application. |
| 312 | .TP |
| 313 | \fBdde request\fR ?\fB\-binary\fR? \fIservice topic item\fR |
| 314 | \fBdde request\fR is typically used to get the value of something; the |
| 315 | value of a cell in Microsoft Excel or the text of a selection in |
| 316 | Microsoft Word. \fIservice\fR is typically the name of an application, |
| 317 | \fItopic\fR is typically the name of the file, and \fIitem\fR is |
| 318 | application-specific. The command returns the value of \fIitem\fR as |
| 319 | defined in the application. Normally this is interpreted to be a |
| 320 | string with terminating null. If \fB\-binary\fR is specified, the |
| 321 | result is returned as a byte array. |
| 322 | .TP |
| 323 | \fBdde services \fIservice topic\fR |
| 324 | \fBdde services\fR returns a list of service-topic pairs that |
| 325 | currently exist on the machine. If \fIservice\fR and \fItopic\fR are |
| 326 | both null strings ({}), then all service-topic pairs currently |
| 327 | available on the system are returned. If \fIservice\fR is null and |
| 328 | \fItopic\fR is not, then all services with the specified topic are |
| 329 | returned. If \fIservice\fR is not null and \fItopic\fR is, all topics |
| 330 | for a given service are returned. If both are not null, if that |
| 331 | service-topic pair currently exists, it is returned; otherwise, null |
| 332 | is returned. |
| 333 | .TP |
| 334 | \fBdde eval\fR ?\fB\-async\fR? \fItopic cmd \fR?\fIarg arg ...\fR? |
| 335 | \fBdde eval\fR evaluates a command and its arguments using the interpreter |
| 336 | specified by \fItopic\fR. The DDE service must be the \fBTclEval\fR |
| 337 | service. The \fB\-async\fR option requests asynchronous invocation. The |
| 338 | command returns an error message if the script did not run, unless the |
| 339 | \fB\-async\fR flag was used, in which case the command returns immediately |
| 340 | with no error. This command can be used to replace \fBsend\fR on Windows. |
| 341 | |
| 342 | .SH "DDE AND TCL" |
| 343 | A Tcl interpreter always has a service name of \fBTclEval\fR. Each |
| 344 | different interpreter of all running Tcl applications must be |
| 345 | given a unique |
| 346 | name specified by \fBdde servername\fR. Each interp is available as a |
| 347 | DDE topic only if the \fBdde servername\fR command was used to set the |
| 348 | name of the topic for each interp. So a \fBdde services TclEval {}\fR |
| 349 | command will return a list of service-topic pairs, where each of the |
| 350 | currently running interps will be a topic. |
| 351 | .PP |
| 352 | When Tcl processes a \fBdde execute\fR command, the data for the |
| 353 | execute is run as a script in the interp named by the topic of the |
| 354 | \fBdde execute\fR command. |
| 355 | .PP |
| 356 | When Tcl processes a \fBdde request\fR command, it returns the value of the |
| 357 | variable given in the dde command in the context of the interp named by the |
| 358 | dde topic. Tcl reserves the variable \fB$TCLEVAL$EXECUTE$RESULT\fR for |
| 359 | internal use, and \fBdde request\fR commands for that variable will give |
| 360 | unpredictable results. |
| 361 | .PP |
| 362 | An external application which wishes to run a script in Tcl should have |
| 363 | that script store its result in a variable, run the \fBdde execute\fR |
| 364 | command, and the run \fBdde request\fR to get the value of the |
| 365 | variable. |
| 366 | .PP |
| 367 | When using DDE, be careful to ensure that the event queue is flushed |
| 368 | using either \fBupdate\fR or \fBvwait\fR. This happens by default |
| 369 | when using \fBwish\fR unless a blocking command is called (such as \fBexec\fR |
| 370 | without adding the \fB&\fR to place the process in the background). |
| 371 | If for any reason the event queue is not flushed, DDE commands may |
| 372 | hang until the event queue is flushed. This can create a deadlock |
| 373 | situation. |
| 374 | |
| 375 | .SH EXAMPLE |
| 376 | This asks Internet Explorer (which must already be running) to go to a |
| 377 | particularly important website: |
| 378 | .CS |
| 379 | package require dde |
| 380 | \fBdde execute\fR iexplore WWW_OpenURL http://www.tcl.tk/ |
| 381 | .CE |
| 382 | |
| 383 | .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| 384 | tk(n), winfo(n), send(n) |
| 385 | |
| 386 | .SH KEYWORDS |
| 387 | application, dde, name, remote execution |