Excel VBA Load UniDDE Software and Run Project

[Corey]

In UniDDE, if you right click on your open project or use the menu buttons, you can copy the Read Command, Stop PLC Macro, Run PLC Macro, and Run/Stop Toggle macro.  If I have the read command in an Excel worksheet, it tries to start UniDDE.exe but fails.  Instead, I had to clear the field until the workbook is open then add the read command =UniDDE|Items!'lblDDE(1)' to the cell afterwards. 

My second issue (the first being that I can't seem to get the UniDDE read command to automatically load the software) is that the PLC is not in Run mode.  Therefore, I try to use the code that UniDDE provides with those copy buttons.  If I use the "Run/Stop" toggle it will properly stop the PLC connection if it's already running.  If I execute that code to make it run, it will run but Excel freezes until I click escape.  I also tried the "Run PLC" macro, but it does absolutely nothing.

 

My VBA to start the UniDDE software is below. 

Cell F1 = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Unitronics\Unitronics DDE Server\UniDDE.exe"

Cell F2 = "UniDDE.exe"

Cell F3 = "U:\Display Result and Write CSV.ude"

Sub Load_UniDDE()
    Application.StatusBar = "loading PLC application"
    
    Dim strApp, strAppShort, strFile As String
    Dim WB As Workbook
    Set WB = ThisWorkbook
    strApp = WB.Worksheets(1).Range("F1").Value
    strAppShort = WB.Worksheets(1).Range("F2").Value
    strFile = WB.Worksheets(1).Range("F3").Value
        

    If strApp = "" Or strAppShort = "" Then
        Application.WindowState = xlMaximized
        WB.Worksheets(1).Range("F1").Select
        
        MsgBox "Please correct the software path and process in the Excel worksheet."
    Else
        If Dir(strFile) <> "" Then
            Dim objList As Object
            
            Set objList = GetObject("winmgmts:").ExecQuery("select * from win32_process where name='" & strAppShort & "'") ' determine if the DDE app is already running
            If objList.Count = 0 Then
                Shell strApp & " " & strFile, vbMinimizedFocus ' open the DDE app and project file
            End If

        Else
            Application.WindowState = xlMaximized
            WB.Worksheets(1).Range("F3").Select
            MsgBox "Please correct the project path in the Excel worksheet."
        End If
    End If
        
    Application.StatusBar = False
End Sub

UniDDE provides the following macros which are not working properly

RUN PLC:

Dim lchannelNumber   As Long

   '/ Run PLC 
   lchannelNumber = Application.DDEInitiate("UniDDE", "Items")
   Application.DDEExecute lchannelNumber, "Last Test Result_RUN"
   Application.DDETerminate lchannelNumber

RUN/STOP Toggle:

Dim lchannelNumber   As Long

   '/ Run/stop UniDDE 
   lchannelNumber = Application.DDEInitiate("UniDDE", "Items")
   Application.DDEExecute lchannelNumber, "UniDDE_RUN/STOP"
   Application.DDETerminate lchannelNumber