Excel hangs on DDE

**zlackoff** · 06-29-2011, 08:50 PM

Hello,
I have a strange error using DDE in Excel formulas and VBA for Excel. I've been using, for the past who knows how long, DDE to connect to a couple applications without problems, one in a formula and one in vba code, they looked like this respectively

=username|tik!'id20?req?MSFT_STK_SMART_USD_{}'

Public Sub getPriceData(reqStr as String)
Dim iChannel as Integer, vArr as Variant
iChannel = Application.DDEInitiate("ILX", "H2")
vArr = Application.DDERequest(iChannel, reqStr)
Call Application.DDETerminate
'some stuff with vArr
End Sub

Without any changes I can recall and confirming that all variables (namely reqStr and the string in the formula) hadn't changed, Excel has crashed on DDEInitiate and whenever a DDE formula is placed in a cell. Specifically, it continues running and displays Not Responding until I end the process. I think I've let it run for a maximum of about 10 minutes before giving up.

It's so bad that I can replace the DDE string in the formula to nonsense, i.e. I've tried:

=foo|bar!'stuff'

and upon hitting enter Excel hangs and doesn't respond.

By the way: Excel 2010, Windows 7 with all updates available on Windows Update through 6/29/11. I also tried uninstalling Excel but because it comes up as Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 all I actually did was remove Excel from the 'Add or Remove Features' and then add it back in, which may not have the same effect as uninstalling, which I cant seem to do without uninstalling the entirety of Microsoft Office.

Any help is greatly appreciated, please save me from needing to uninstall and reinstall all of office!