Date:         Fri, 12 Dec 2003 10:33:36 +0200
Reply-To:     arjen.raateland@ymparisto.fi
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Arjen Raateland <arjen.raateland@YMPARISTO.FI>
Organization: Suomen ympäristökeskus
Subject:      Re: Running EXCEL minimized while running SAS and doing DDE
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Nat Wooding wrote:
>
> I have a SAS application wherein I use DDE to read the contents of a number
> of sheets in a workbook. Each time a new sheet is opened, an EXCEL window
> opens so my computer is effectively tied up while it grinds through the
> workbook. I have done some searching but have not found any means of
> opening EXCEL but keeping it minimized. Does anyone know a trick that will
> do this?
>
> Nat Wooding


Hi Nat,

The minimize function works well. The following are the relevant parts
from an application I wrote:

/* Start up Excel. */
%_OpenApp(Applicat=Excel);

/* Open all files in Excel. */
data _null_;
   length ak $ 8;
   lista="&ak_lista";
   file cmdexcel;
   do i=1 to %nwords(lista);
     ak=scan(lista,i);
     put '[open("' "&input" '\' ak +(-1) '.xls")]';
     end;
   put '[app.minimize()]';
   run;


.... reading Excel files ....


/* Excel no longer needed: Perform Exit */
data _null_;
  file cmdexcel;
  put '[quit()]';
run;
filename cmdexcel clear;


The documentation about these macro functions is old. Not all of them
work 100% e.g. renaming or moving around sheets of an Excel workbook
can't be done with a macro function, if I remember well. There is a
workaround for this in one of the SUGI papers about using Excel through
DDE from SAS by Koen Vyverman.

Good luck!
--
Arjen Raateland
Finnish Environment Institute SYKE
Research Dept.
SAS Support
phone +358 9 4030 0350