DDE or Winsock to Communicate

I am creating an application with 2 (or 3) seperate compiled executables. How can I allow my applications to send data back and forth? (Strings, Integers - nothing much)
I was thinking about using Winsock and using a port for my program, but this will probably be inefective.
How could I implement DDE so that one program can send a request to another, and the other can send a reply?

What is the easiest method, and can anyone show me some example code.

-Chris
(using VB6 Service Pack 4)

For all communication stuffs, use the Winsock control. Here 's sample i've already gave in precedent posts.

Code:

---


'Client


Private Sub DeconnectCommand_Click()
    tcpClient.Close
End Sub

Private Sub ConnectCommand_Click()
    On Error GoTo CheckError
   
    tcpClient.RemoteHost = PostText                  ' "XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX"
    tcpClient.RemotePort = 1001

    If tcpClient.State = sckConnecting Then
        ErrorText.Text = "Connecting..."
    Else: tcpClient.Connect
    End If
    Exit Sub
CheckError:
    Call ProcessError
End Sub

Private Sub ProcessError()
    If Err.Number = 40020 Then
        ErrorText.Text = "Connection already established"
    ElseIf Err.Number = 40006 Then
        ErrorText.Text = "No answer"
    Else: MsgBox "Err n°:" & Err.Number & Chr(13) & Err.Description
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Terminate()
    tcpClient.Close
End Sub

Private Sub SendData(Message As String)
    On Error GoTo CheckError
    tcpClient.SendData Message
    Exit Sub
CheckError:
    Call ProcessError
End Sub

Private Sub tcpClient_DataArrival(ByVal bytesTotal As Long)
    tcpClient.GetData StrData
End Sub


'Server


Private NumCanal As Integer

Option Explicit

Private Sub Form_Load()
    NumCanal = 0
    tcpServer(0).LocalPort = 1001
    tcpServer(0).Listen
End Sub

Private Sub tcpServer_ConnectionRequest(index As Integer, ByVal requestID As Long)
    If index = 0 Then
        NumCanal = NumCanal + 1
        Load tcpServer(NumCanal)
        tcpServer(NumCanal).LocalPort = 0
        tcpServer(NumCanal).Accept requestID
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub tcpServer_DataArrival(index As Integer, ByVal bytesTotal As Long)
    Dim StrData As String
   
    tcpServer(index).GetData StrData   
End Sub

---

Hope this'll help you. :)

Thanks! This will really help later on in my app - but it seems long winded for what I need to do..
My program will have 2 exes - both programs will be running on the same computer, can I use any other way to transmit data between them? (Simple boolean query "is user logged on?" server reply: "true")

OK, if you're EXEs are on the same computer, that's different.

I don't think there's a possibiliy to create a channel between two processes. (if there's one, i don't know it)

But, you can just create a temporary file which contain what you want to exchange : this will be simpler that with Winsock.

That's only what i can for you at the moment. :(