SAS + DDE + Excel becomes non-responsive (after working fine the day before)

0
votes

Problem:

I am trying to use the DDE facility in SAS to write some data to an existing workbook, but SAS becomes non responsive.

After opening the workbook D:\testfile.xlsx in excel, I would normally run something like the code below (heavily simplified, yet still produces the error for me):

filename testfile dde "excel|[D:\testfile.xlsx]Sheet1!r1c1:r1c3" notab;

data _null_;
  file testfile;
  x = "hello";
  put x;
run;

Previously, as in yesterday, this had worked flawlessly. Today, on the other hand, SAS becomes non-responsive and I have to kill it with task manager.

Note: I have seen on other message boards that having chrome in the background can cause this issue, but I have ensured that no chrome processes are running when this occurs.

Version Info:

  • Windows 7 64bit SP1
  • SAS 9.2 (base licence)
  • Office 2010
1
excelsasdde
Hi, I have the same problem (and the same settings). Does your Excel workbook open at all or is it only the Excel application ? Does a reboot generally fix the issue ? – Pane
The workbook wouldn't even open - and a reboot didn't seem to fix the issue. This occured a while back and I might see if its still an issue or if it magically fixed itself, which is sometimes the case with MS COM stuff. – Ben Southgate
Are you running this in batch mode or interactive mode? – Robert Penridge

1 Answers

0
votes

I have noticed that disabling Excel add-ins fixed the same issue for me.

You disable add-ins by going -> trust center -> trust center settings -> add-ins -> then check the box "disable all application add-ins"

You can also manually disable add-ins on the manage add-ins screen in trust center settings.