DDE Server

Modify the sample "DDE Server" code from Microsoft, such that is grabs its data from a TCP Socket ## Deliverables I would like to modify the sample code from Microsoft called "[login to view URL]" such that is does the following: 1. Complete and fully-functional working program in executable form as well as complete source code of all work done. 2. Like the example program the EXE should be self contained, everything in a single EXE… you click on it and it runs 3. The DDE "Service" Name is always the same as the EXE filename. Rename the file and you have a new DDE "Service" Name. 4. In the example program from Microsoft the DDE "Topics" and "Items" are hardcoded and the values or randomly generated. In the modified version the topics/items are dynamic the info is read from of a data stream (TCP Socket). 5. The only configuration is the IP/PORT of where the app should connect to get its data. It can be provided as command line arguments. You can get a look at a sample data stream here: IP: [login to view URL] Port: 45054 You can use NetCat to connect to it and take a look: [login to view URL] Once you have NC type: nc [login to view URL] 45054 Once connected you have to send the string "Please\n" in order to be granted access to the steam, In the case of the NetCat connection simply type "Please" (Note the P is upper case) The data flow looks like this: topic1;item1:1.2,item2:,item3:99 topic2;item1:999,item2:3.21 topic1;item1:1.5,item2:4.2,item3:89 topicx;item1:0,itemx: As you can guess each line is terminated with NewLine char "\n" When the EXE is first started the only topic available is "System" and the items "Topics" and "SysItems" but as the EXE starts to read the data from the stream NEW topics and Items are made available. The value of System!Topics and System!SysItems should progress as new data becomes available. If we look at the first line of the data in feed. The resulting should be that a new topic is made available and within that 3 new times are made available. Be aware that sometimes the item returns a null value as in the case of Item2 And one last thing the sample app is a 16 bit app. it would be kinda nice but not requited to have it be a 32bit app. Helpful links The sample app from Microsoft: Supporting the DDE System Topic [login to view URL] May come in handy Dynamic Data Exchange Management Library [login to view URL] Thing to watch out for Top 10 DDEML Support Issues [login to view URL] I few clarifications; I don’t really need anything on the GUI for this app but I what thinking of perhaps having the RAW feed from the TCP socket scroll on the app’s display. This would allow the user to SEE that data as its flowing. As for the size of this project here is how I see it Phase 1 (One hour) Properly get a hold of what is required and read all the existing source code of the example app (it’s really small) Phase 2 (Two hours) Adapt to example code to fit the requirements Phase 3 (One hour) Quality assurance, Make sure the app has no memory leaks and is stable. I don’t know anything about C but I am used to code in PERL and for me writing an app in PERL that can connect to a TCP Socket and tokenize that stream into an array is a 5 to 10 minute job MAX. Adjusting the existing example code so it read its VAR’s from an array should be pretty quick as well. Getting to app to have dynamic DDE Topics names is where there is little bit more code re-rewriting involved. Where is the danger? I think the only danger in this project is the DDEML. It’s a Microsoft library with mean I have no idea how temperamental it is. It could end up with problems like the DDE server no longer responding because it need to pickup/process irrelevant messages from the queue or some stupid thing like that. It’s unlikely since the example app WORKS, but never take anything for granted when working with Microsoft. So in sort I can see Phase 3 turning into 4 hours if something goes wrong. Thanks, Gérald ## Platform Windows XP