Writing a macro to open another application

[dmorris]

I am trying to add a macro to an Access database that will open another application called ScanTools and tranfer data. I've been reading about the DDE function and using ODBC drivers, but does anyone have any advice on how I can get started?

 

[JMARZ]

I'm not sure you can use DDE in macros, I think you can only use it in VBA. You cuould use Transfertext though, and set the transfer type to one of the export types available. This will not put the data into the other app, but will make it available for that app to retrieve it. The other option is to see if the app supports automation such as all the office products do. Then you could manipulate the app via VBA code and automation...

Jeff

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

You might be able to do this using the RunApp and Sendkeys macro actions if Scantools is a Windows App, if it's a DOS app, you might be able to write a DOS batch file and use Runapp to execute command.com, to run the batch.

What is Scantools, and what does it do?

Mike Gurman

 

[dmorris]

Mike--ScanTools is a software that reads data from an Optical Mark Reader (OMR). I am trying to automate the tranfer from ScanTools to Access because I need to manipulate the data in such a way ScanTools doesn't support, but it will transfer the data in a flat ASCII or delimited file.