Anyone have experiance with DDE in Windows 7?

[wildswing]

Hey fellas,

I'm just trying to get a head start on the eventual OS upgrade I'm going to have to do to all my process computers. Windows 7 will be the OS. Currently my Wonderware Intouch HMIs (v9.5) and OEM machine boxes (with OEM software) all run on XP boxes. All OEM apps use DDE to talk to Intouch.

Only one OEM has clearly said that they have a Win7 compatible upgrade that's OPC complient. That one gets to sit at the front of the bus. The others look at me like a deer in the headlights when I ask about OPC, so I'm wondering how reliable DDE is in Win7. Doing some googling, I found out that it's still there.

Anyone care to share their experiences with DDE in Win7? Your insights would be greatly appreciated. Mucho thanks in advance.

 

[kekrahulik]

Haven't dealt with Windows 7, but did experience the conversion of NetDDE from NT to XP. WonderWare has FSGateway that can bridge the gap for NetDDE between computers. Don't know if that's an option for Win7.

 

[JordanCClark]

Unfortunately NetDDE is something of a dead animal. It was dying with XP, meaning that it wasn't generally installed, but was still on the CD. However, MS completely dropped support for NetDDE starting with Vista. If there's an OPC alternative, I'd go with that-- in fact, I'd run! Otherwise, If you're stuck with NetDDE, then perhaps running those apps an a virtual machine may be your best bet until something better comes along.

 

[Saffa]

You can still use DDE under Windows 7, but it's a lot more tricky. I've had problems getting View to talk directly to some older DDE Servers. They can work if you use FSGateway as an intermediatary.

For example with Excel: Under Windows 7, all services run with a session ID of 0. Since most people run FSGateway as a Service, it will have this session ID of 0. Excel on the other hand does not run as a service, and will have the session ID of user that started the application. The applications must have the same Session ID to be able to communicate over DDE.

My recommendation for getting legacy apps to work on Windows 7 with Intouch:

Make sure you're running Intouch 10.5
Use FSGateway, but not running as a service.
Ensure your legacy apps will run stable under Windows 7. If they're still actively supported by the developers, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I haven't used it for any long period of time to be honest, mostly just as a stop gap over a couple weeks while I hurried around getting more up to date I/O servers that I could use with OPC directly.

 

[RussB]

Anyone have experiance with DDE in Windows 7?

Is that not like doing Morris Code over Ethernet?
Maybe it can be done but is it really practical?
You really need to look into upgrading the other end to OPC or something similar.

 

[Saffa]

I take it you mean Morse Code, not Morris Code?

There are still a very large number of legacy applications out there that (very successfully) communicate entirely with other software packages via DDE.

For installations / organizations that have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on software, it's not always so easy to justify tossing it away simply because one of its protocols is seen as the old, fuddy duddy in the room.

What WildSwing is doing is the best way forward - talk to your OEM software producers to see what they've got. put together a migration plan, and work with the OEM who can provide you with the package you need on the platform you need. Make sure you've got a backup plan that you've tried and tested before migration (i.e. DDE does still work on Windows 7).

 

[The Plc Kid]

Use VM Ware Converter to convert the XP Box and run it in VM Ware desktop on the new win 7 machine. I would recommend getting a powerful win 7 machine with 4gb of ram or higher if you can then you don't have to change anything.

VM Ware Desktop is 189.00

 

[wildswing]

Thanks very much for the feedback fellas. Much appreciated.

I wish all my OEMs were up to date, but that's not the case. Heck, I just decommissioned my last DOS app only 2 years ago. Luckily I've got some time to get this done. Thanks again.

 

[lostcontrol]

OLD Topic I know,

BUT, did you actually get this working?

We are doing the same thing. I can get FSGateway talking to the DDE server on an XP machine, but am struggling to get it working on a Win7 machine with identical config. The only difference is the OS (obviously) & the version of FSGateway is newer.

Use FSGateway, but not running as a service.

Saffa, What do you mean not as a service, do you mean as a Manual Service, or actual windows application?

EDIT:
Started FSGateway from the application directory rather than SMC & it works!

 

[wildswing]

BUT, did you actually get this working?

No. My priorities got reshuffled and I never got back to this. My HMIs are still running on XP.

 

[lostcontrol]

Well it works when you run it not as a service.
When I said I started it from the App directory, I did use the .exe, but you can also start it from the SMC when it is selected as 'Not a Service'.