Create and change DDE links

Important

Starting with Windows Vista™, Microsoft^® does not support DDE on a network anymore. However, you can create DDE links on a local computer.

In This Topic

Create a link with Paste Link
Create or change a DDE link in Minitab
Examples of link names from other applications
Create a link from Minitab to a different application

Create a link with Paste Link

Use Paste Link to quickly create a hot link so that Minitab can receive data from another application. When the Minitab file and the source data file are both open, and the data change in the source application, the linked data change in the Minitab file. DDE links are saved when you save a Minitab worksheet. When you open a worksheet that contains DDE links, Minitab attempts to reestablish the links and update the data.

In Minitab or another application, select the data that you want to exchange and copy it.
In the Minitab worksheet, click in the column where you want the data to go. If you do not click on a column, Minitab puts the linked data at the beginning of the column that contains the active cell.
Choose Edit > Paste Link. If the other application does not support copying and pasting of links, then Paste Link is not available.

Create or change a DDE link in Minitab

You can establish a new DDE link that allows Minitab to receive data from another application, or edit an existing link. When you open a worksheet that contains DDE links, Minitab attempts to reestablish the links and update the data.

Save the file that you want to link to in the other application. Note the file name and location.
In Minitab, choose Edit > Worksheet Links > Manage Links.
To create a new link, click Add. To edit an existing link, select it in the list and click Change.
In Application, enter the name of the application that you are linking to.
Tip
Usually, the application name is the name of the EXE file that starts the program, minus the .exe extension. For examples, see the next section, "Examples of link names from other applications".
In Topic, enter the name of the file or document that contains the data. The topic name depends on the type of application. In applications that use documents or data files, the topic is often the name of the file. For example, the topic for a Microsoft^® Word document might be mywork.docx. The file name can also include a path, as in C:\MYWORK\MYWORK.DOCX. If one file can contain many documents or subwindows, the topic can be the name of the file in brackets, followed by the name of the document or window. For example, Minitab projects can contain many worksheets, so a typical topic would be [minitab] worksheet 1. For examples, see the next section, "Examples of link names from other applications".
In Item, enter an ID for the specific data. The item ID depends on the type of application. In Minitab, the item always specifies a row/column location or rectangular area in the form, R4C1:R4C2. For example, to use all of Minitab column 1, enter C1, and, to use the cell in row 4 and column 1, enter R4C1. Most spreadsheets use close variants of this format for items. For examples, see the next section, "Examples of link names from other applications".
In Status, indicate whether to enable or disable the link.
- Active: The link starts receiving data form the other application immediately.
- Inactive: The link does not receive data until you enable it. When you disable a link, Minitab ignores/discards any queued transactions or incoming transactions until you enable the link.
In Priority, enter a number to specify the priority of the link relative to other links. The priority can be any integer from 1 (the highest priority), to 32 (the lowest priority). Priority matters when you have more than one link to transfer data at the same time or have several transactions waiting to be processed. Minitab processes data for links with higher priority first, then processes data from links with lower priority. Links with the same priority are transferred on a first-in first-out basis. The default priority is 16.
In Update method, select the way in which the data are entered into Minitab.
- Append: Add data to the end of the column or columns.
- Replace: Replace the contents of the column or columns with the new data.
In Anchor column, enter the number of the first column in the Minitab worksheet where you want to put the data. You only need to specify the anchor column. If the item references more than one column of data, other columns are inserted after the anchor column.
In Action, select the action that you want Minitab to perform after each data transfer from the server application.
- Update data and execute commands
- Update data only
- Execute commmands only
In Commands, enter the commands that you want Minitab to execute when data are transferred from the other application.
Type one or more Minitab session commands, subcommands, or %macros. Follow these rules:
- Enter up to 128 characters (without line breaks). If a sequence of commands exceeds 128 characters, you can create a macro to contain these commands. For example, %mymacro launches a macro that can contain hundreds of lines of code.
- Use semicolons (;) to follow a command or subcommand with another subcommand.
- Use periods (.) at the end of the last command or subcommand.
Click Add or Change, then click OK.

Examples of link names from other applications

These examples are for when you transfer data from another application to Minitab.

Program	Application	Topic	Item	Explanation
Microsoft^® Access	MSACCESS	mydata;QUERY totals	DATA	In the database named "mydata", get the data from the query named "totals"
Microsoft^® Access	MSACCESS	mydata;TABLE Inventory	DATA	In the database named "mydata", get the data from the table named "Inventory"
Microsoft^® Excel	excel	[RESULTS.XLS]FIRST QUARTER	R1C1:R50C4	In the file RESULT.XLS, in the sheet named "First Quarter", get columns A through D, using rows 1 through 50
SPSS	SPSSWIN	!DATA	[Age Name 1 50]	Columns "Age" through "Name" using rows 1 through 50

Create a link from Minitab to a different application

You can send Minitab data to an application that accepts DDE links by setting up a link from Minitab to the other application.

To create a link from Minitab to a different application, do one of the following:

Copy the data in Minitab, go to the other application, and paste the data using Paste Link or Paste Special.

Create the link to Minitab in the other application. The DDE commands might require you to use a Minitab link name. A link name has three parts: an application, a topic, and an item. The following are some examples of Minitab link names:

Application	Topic	Item	Explanation
minitab	[myproj.mpj] worksheet 1	C1	Retrieves all data for column 1
minitab	[myproj.mpj] worksheet 1	C1:C3	Retrieves all data in columns C1-C3
minitab	[myproj.mpj] worksheet 1	R1C1	Retrieves the contents of row 1, column 1
minitab	[myproj.mpj] worksheet 1	R1C1:R5C2	Retrieves values from row 1 to row 5 in columns 1 and 2
minitab	system	(one Minitab command)	Executes the specified command. The command can be a macro invocation.

You cannot use Minitab column names (such as "results" or "test1") to specify the ranges. You also cannot link to matrices or constants.