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How to get running DDE servers on the computer


I want to see a list of all DDE servers (and topics if possible) currently active on my computer. How can I do that? Is there some service started for each DDE server?

I search the Internet and stackoverflow for some time and did not find anything.


Solution

  • Among the tools I use frequently, tcl can do it:

    dde services {} {}
    

    returns all active service-topic pairs.

    You can see the implementation in TCL source tree (win/tclWinDde.c). Basically, it's a lot of boring work with windows and messages. First, DDE client window is created. Then WM_DDE_INITIATE is sent to each window (using EnumWindows), passing the client window handle as WPARAM. The client window procedure handles WM_DDE_ACK, adding services and topics from atoms in LOWORD(lParam) and HIWORD(lParam).