Connect Excel to the Propeller

Hanno

Here's a simple excel function that will continually update an Excel cell with the value of a variable in a spin program running on a Propeller connected to ViewPort:

=vp|get|variable

Here's some Excel macro code that does lot's of cool stuff:

Dim a, b, channel As Integer
Sub StartVP()
    'Start DDE connection to ViewPort
        channel = DDEInitiate("vp", "system")
    'Connect ViewPort to Propeller
        DDEExecute channel, "connect"
    'Set cell to list of names of Propeller variables
        ActiveSheet.Cells(5, 5).Value = DDERequest(channel, "list")
    'Set cell to detail of variable "a"
        ActiveSheet.Cells(3, 2).Value = DDERequest(channel, "detail(a)")
    'Set servo variable to value of cell
        DDEPoke channel, "servo", Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A1")
    'Link servo variable to cell- when the cell changes, the variable on the Propeller will be updated
        DDEExecute channel, "link(servo,excel|sheet1.xls!r1c1)]"
    'Read temp variable into cell 
        ActiveSheet.Cells(4, 2).Value = DDERequest(channel, "temp")
    'Continually update cell with value of "temp" variable from Propeller
        ActiveSheet.Cells(6, 2).Value = "=vp|get!temp"
        ActiveWorkbook.SetLinkOnData "vp|get!temp", "gotData"
    'Start a trigger that fires when "temp" rises above 20.  Then, return temp and time
        ActiveSheet.Cells(7, 2).Value = "=vp|rise!temp_20_temp_time"
        ActiveWorkbook.SetLinkOnData "vp|rise!temp_20_temp_time", "gotTrigger"
End Sub
Sub gotData()
    'Data received, update cell
        ActiveSheet.Cells(4, 5).Value = a
        a = a + 1
End Sub
Sub gotTrigger()
    'Trigger received, update cell
        ActiveSheet.Cells(5, 5).Value = b
        b = b + 1
End Sub
Sub StopVP()
    'Stop getting trigger/value updates
        ActiveSheet.Cells(6, 2).Value = ""
        ActiveSheet.Cells(7, 2).Value = ""
    'Disconnect Propeller and terminate DDE
        DDEExecute channel, "disconnect"
        DDETerminate channel
End Sub

Here's the list of DDE commands that any program that speaks DDE can use to communicate with ViewPort/Propeller:

dde.init("vp","system"): connects to ViewPort DDE server

dde.execute("connect"): connects to Propeller

dde.execute("disconnect"): disconnects Propeller- releases com port

dde.request("list"): returns a list of variables whose values can be read/written

dde.request("detail(var)"): returns information about a variable, for example,
   detail("io") returns "io|array[noparse][[/noparse]400]|base 16"

dde.poke("var",value): sets a Propeller variable to a value, for example, poke(servo,1500) 
   sets the servo variable to a value of 1500.

dde.execute("link(var,ddecommand)"): links a Propeller variable to a DDE variable, for 
   example, link(servo,excel|sheet1.xls!r1c1) links the servo variable on the Propeller to the 
   contents of the top, left cell of sheet1.xls in Excel.  When you change that cell in Excel, the 
   servo variable will change on your Propeller- potentially moving a servo. 

dde.request(varlist): returns a list of comma separated values for the list of variables you
    specified.  For example, vp|get|temp_wind_time can return "20,15,8:05"

dde.StartAdvise(varlist): your dde client will be advised 10 times/second with a list of comma 
   separated values for the list of variables you specified.  For example, a varlist of 
   vp|get|temp_wind_time will result in events with a parameter of "20,15,8:05" 

dde.StartAdvise(trigger): sets a trigger.  When the condition is valid, the trigger result is set
   to the values of the variables in the varlist.  For example, StartAdvise("rise!temp_20_temp_time") 
   will set up a new trigger that fires when the Propeller variable "temp" rises above 20.  The 
   application will get notified with a comma-delimmeted string of values- for example, "21,90,8:05".  

Mostly working here, will release to beta in a week. PM me if you're a ViewPort Ultimate user interested in testing with other applications.
Hanno

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