DDE with Excel 5.0/Oracle Forms 4.0

We're trying to figure out a way to initiate a DDE conversation with an existing EXCEL instance without knowing what (if any) sheets might be open. Using Forms 4.0, we wish to DDE some info to an EXCEL spreadsheet. The example code from ORACLE shows how to either start a new instance of EXCEL
(using DDE.App_Begin) or to connect to an open sheet in an already running EXCEL instance
(DDE.Initiate).

The problem is this -- With a RUNFORM session and an EXCEL instance already running, the environment is too loaded to bring up another EXCEL instance, so we will want to use the instance of EXCEL that is already running. DDE.Initiate requires a second parameter
(the topic) which can't be null. It would appear that this must identify an open sheet in
the EXCEL instance. However, the sheet we will want to populate may not be loaded, and we'd prefer not to force our users to open our sheet before running the app. The DDE.Execute command could open the required sheet for them, assuming they are already running EXCEL.

Any ideas ?
Domenic Inneo, Dofasco Inc.
Email: Domenic_Inneo_at_Dofasco.ca
Voice: (905) 544-3761 (ext. 6262) Received on Tue Jun 27 1995 - 00:00:00 CEST