DDE Linking Help
IQLink supports versions 97, 2000, and XP of Excel. The user will start DTN.IQ, and IQConnect will automatically be running. The user can then open Excel, and type a DDE formula into any cell.
DDE formulas consist of the following data:
- =IQLink|symbol!field . The symbol keyword can be replaced with any symbol that is valid in DTN.IQ. For example, MSFT.
- The field keyword can be replaced with any of the following items:
Click Here for complete list of fields available.
If the symbol or field contains spaces or special characters, it needs to be enclosed with single ticks. For example: ‘Ask Price’. The DDE formula is not case sensitive.
The following is an example of a DDE formula for Microsoft’s last price: =iqlink|msft!last
When the user leaves the cell after completing the formula, IQLink will begin processing the formula and will return the data. After the first DDE formula is entered, Excel will automatically start IQLink. The user will see the following message from Excel:
The user should click “Yes” to start IQLink.exe. If the user selects “No”, then IQLink will not be started, and data will not calculate.
The user may obtain a list of available fields by typing “System” instead of a symbol, and “Qitems1” or “Qitems2” or “Fitems1” or “Fitems2” instead of a field. Q refers to quote data fields, and F refers to fundamental data fields. Qitems1 will return the first set of quote data fields, and Qitems2 will return the remaining quote data fields. Fitems1 will return the first set of fundamental data fields, and Fitems2 will return the remaining fundamental data fields. For example, in Excel the user would type =IQLink|System! Qitems1 to access the first list of quote data fields.
When IQLink is running, its icon will be shown in the system tray (near IQConnect’s icon). IQLink has a dialog, which is the only user interface. The dialog can be displayed by double-clicking on the icon. This dialog contains statistical information that can be updated by double-clicking on the icon while the dialog is visible. By default, the dialog is hidden at start up. Closing the dialog will hide it, but will not shut down IQLink. IQLink will terminate automatically 10 seconds after the last DDE formula is deleted, or after any workbooks containing DDE Formulas are closed. IQLink will also terminate when DTN_IQ is closed or disconnected.
In order to avoid entering individual formulas for each symbol/field, you may use our IQLink Macro instead.
- Just enter the symbols in a single column (without empty rows between symbols.
- I.e.: start at field A2 and enter symbols through A10) and the field names in the same row (without empty columns between field names. I.e.: start at field B1 and enter field names through G1).
- Click on Tools, then Macro, then Macros.
- Then choose IQLink_DDE from the list of macros, and click RUN.
- The fields which were highlighted will automatically begin updating with dynamic data from DTN_IQ.
- The user will need to have the Sample DDE Spreadsheet.xls to run the IQLink_DDE Macro.