Chapter 14

Data Exchange and Interfaces

Plant Simulation provides several interfaces for import and export data.

14.1 DDE with Plant Simulation

Dynamic data exchange (DDE) allows accessing another program. A Windows

program that makes DDE functionality available connects to the system under a
server name and provides various topics. You can establish a connection to this
program by providing the specified server name and a valid theme. You may use
the established channel for certain transactions related to data (items) that are
supported by the server. All DDE transactions are realized by SimTalk calls in
Plant Simulation. You can call any method in Plant Simulation using DDE,
including the methods that you have defined. Important: All participating
programs must be started.

14.1.1 Read Plant Simulation Data in Microsoft Excel

The following examples are programmed in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications).
In principle, this works with Excel, Project, Word and Access. To work with
DDE, you need the following commands:

Table 14.1 VBA DDE commands

VBA/SimTalk Method Description

DDEInitiate(<string1>, <string2>)
Opens a channel; you have to pass the name of the
application (<string1>, (in Plant Simulation 12 this still is
eM-Plant) and a topic (<string2>)
Plant Simulation supports the following topics:
System (you can request information about Plant
Simulation and call SimTalk methods)
Data (values of global variables can be read and written)
Info (version of Plant Simulation, name of the current
frame, states of the frame you can read)

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 661

S. Bangsow, Tecnomatix Plant Simulation,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-19503-2_14
662 14 Data Exchange and Interfaces

Table 14.1 (continued)

DDERequest(<integer>, <string>) Requests information from an application; you need to

DDETerminate(<integer>)
DDEPoke(<integer>, <string>,
<string>,<integer>)
DDEExecute(<integer>, <string>)
pass the channel number (<integer>) and an item
(<string>); the passed element (item) will be queried
(Note: It must be addressed absolutely.)
Closes the channel (<integer>)
Writes data (variant>) into the connected application
(channel <integer>, element <string>, timeout<integer>)
Sends a command (<string>) to the connected application
(<integer> channel

Example: Data Exchange DDE Excel

The following examples are programmed in VBA. In principle, this works with
Excel, Project, Word, and Access. Insert a variable (name: variable; data type:
integer; value: 247985) into a Plant Simulation frame (.Models.Frame). This value
is to be read in Excel. Start Excel. Open the VBA Editor. Insert a new module
(Insert—Module) and a new procedure (sampleDDE) in the module:
Public Sub sampleDDE()
Dim channel As Long
Dim value As Variant
'establish channel
channel = DDEInitiate("eM-Plant", "Data")
'read the value
value = DDERequest(channel, _
".Models.Frame.Variable")
'write the value into the table
Tabelle1.Range("A2").value = value(1)
'close channel
DDETerminate (channel)
End Sub

14.1.2 Excel DDE Data Import in Plant Simulation

Plant Simulation can also read data from DDE-enabled programs. Regarding
Excel, a few requirements must be met: The Excel file must be opened. You have
to specify the worksheet in Excel when opening the connection. All data will be
transferred as a string. Reading data from Excel with DDE is done in three steps:
1. Establish a connection with Excel
2. Read the value
3. Close the connection
To read a value from the cell B2 in Sheet1, the following program is necessary:
is
channel:integer;
val:string;