I use a third-party stock quote feed and I link that to Excel via DDE
links. The formula for the link is:

=bc|cot!GOOG.ult

where GOOG is the stock symbol (in this example, Google). If the stock
is always the same, the formula works fine. But I'd like to have a
flexible formula where I could change the stock symbol on a separate
cell without retyping the whole formula.

My first idea was to use CONCATENATE("=bc|cot!"; A1; ".ult"), where A1
is the cell where the stock symbol would go. But concatenate just
produces a text string in that cell, without actually creating a
formula.

To solve this problem is created a macro that inserts the concatenated
text as a formula in the cell: Cell.Value = CONCATENATE("=bc|cot!";
A1; ".ult"). This solution works, but I was really looking for a direct
formula link, whereby I would change the symbol on one cell and the
correct quote was displayed in the other cell without the need of
rebuilding the formula.

Does anyone have an idea?

The idea is that what you want to do is not supported. You can't have a
dynamic DDE link such as you describe.



--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy


wrote in message
oups.com...
I use a third-party stock quote feed and I link that to Excel via DDE
links. The formula for the link is:

=bc|cot!GOOG.ult

where GOOG is the stock symbol (in this example, Google). If the stock
is always the same, the formula works fine. But I'd like to have a
flexible formula where I could change the stock symbol on a separate
cell without retyping the whole formula.

My first idea was to use CONCATENATE("=bc|cot!"; A1; ".ult"), where A1
is the cell where the stock symbol would go. But concatenate just
produces a text string in that cell, without actually creating a
formula.

To solve this problem is created a macro that inserts the concatenated
text as a formula in the cell: Cell.Value = CONCATENATE("=bc|cot!";
A1; ".ult"). This solution works, but I was really looking for a direct
formula link, whereby I would change the symbol on one cell and the
correct quote was displayed in the other cell without the need of
rebuilding the formula.

Does anyone have an idea?

At least now I know my quest is in vain. Seems like a big handicap in
Excel, no?