title: Get data via DDE in Python by bypassing Excel
body: <p>I have a data provider who provides a DDE link (that I can use in Excel) and an exe file that runs in the background which serves as a Data Manager (not sure if this is what called as a DDE Server) and the DDE link connects to that exe file.</p>
  
  <p>I want to bypass Excel and work directly in Python. I saw some examples about DDE but they were all in Python 2 and I am using Python 3.</p>
  
  <p>I saw examples on the net that do something like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import win32ui
  import dde
  ...
  ...
  server = dde.CreateServer()
  server.Create("SomeName")
  ...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But these examples show how to create a DDE server. In my case, there is an existing exe that is the data manager (DDE server may be?) and within Excel there is a menu via which I can get data such as </p>
  
  <pre><code>' = DataProviderFunc1(Param1, Param2)'
  ' = DataProviderFunc2(Param1, Param2)'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I want to write a code in Python that directly gets output of <code>' = DataProviderFunc1(Param1, Param2)'</code> etc., instead of having an Excel sheet open and then letting Python read the output from the Excel sheet. </p>
  
  <p>Is this possible?</p>
  
  <p>I am using Python 3.4. Thanks</p>
  
  <p>There seems to be very little document on the DDE module, e.g. <a href="http://docs.activestate.com/activepython/2.4/pywin32/dde.html" rel="noreferrer">http://docs.activestate.com/activepython/2.4/pywin32/dde.html</a> </p>