To retrieve and update the quote data that you include in your spreadsheets, a separate program is needed that communicates between the TeleTrader Market Data Server and your spreadsheet application. This program is called TeleTrader WorkStation DDE. It is automatically included with TeleTrader WorkStation.

You can see if the DDE connection is active in your Windows system tray:

When you set up a DDE link in your spreadsheet software (like described in the sections Setting up a DDE Link with Live Data and Setting up a DDE Link with Historical Data), or open a spreadsheet that contains DDE links, TeleTrader WorkStation DDE is started automatically. However, you can also manually start the DDE connection.

The DDE connection stays active even if you close TeleTrader WorkStation or the spreadsheet that contains the DDE links. You can stop the connection manually if you don’t need it anymore.

Note             TeleTrader WorkStation DDE creates a separate connection to the TeleTrader Market Data Server. Therefore, firewalls have to be set up to allow traffic for TeleTrader WorkStation DDE (ProfDDE.exe) on either port 80 or 2088 (TCP).

To start the DDE connection manually

▪       Click on the Windows Start button, and then select All Programs > TeleTrader WorkStation > TeleTrader WorkStation DDE Server.

To stop the DDE connection manually

▪       In the Windows system tray, right-click the TeleTrader WorkStation DDE icon:

▪       Select Exit.

Possible issues in Microsoft Excel

TeleTrader WorkStation DDE always delivers all ticks to Microsoft Excel. However, in some cases, Excel will not supply all ticks via the DDE link.

If you want to copy the content of calculated watch list columns like Total P/L or P/L Perc to Excel, you have to change the formula options in the Excel Options dialog to use a different reference style. Click Formulas, and under Working with formulas select the option R1C1 reference style.

In some cases, the calculated values of watch lists are not rounded correctly, resulting in displayed numbers like for example 1.78E-15. In this case, you have to highlight the affected cells in Excel. Then, right-click on the selection and click Format Cells. Choose Number and the amount of decimal places that you want to show. The calculated values should then be rounded according to your settings.

Microsoft Excel 2007 security settings

Microsoft Excel 2007 has very tight security settings. Sometimes, when you open a saved spreadsheet with DDE links, the data is not being updated even though TeleTrader WorkStation DDE is running and visible in the system tray.

If this is the case, you can try to change the security settings in the Excel Options dialog. Click Trust Center, and then click the button Trust Center Settings. Change the settings under External Content to your needs.