•Service Name is the name of the application that executes the commands. Refer to the documentation of the application you specify for the valid service name. You can enter the service name directly as text or click Specify to create the service name from a calculation.

•Topic is a filename or text string that describes the topic that the application executes the commands on. Refer to the documentation of the application specified in the Service Name for valid topics. You can enter the topic name directly as text or click Specify to create the topic name from a calculation. For more information, see Creating file paths.

•Commands are a calculated value or text string that specifies what the application does. Refer to the documentation of the application specified in the Service Name for valid commands and formats. You can enter the commands directly as text or click Specify to create the commands from a calculation.

•FileMaker Pro sends DDE execute commands, but does not receive them.

•Because DDE is a Windows feature, if you run a script containing a Send DDE execute script step on an OS X-based computer, the script step is ignored. (An error code is generated, which can be captured with the Get(LastError) function.)

•When a FileMaker Pro script first establishes a DDE connection, the connection stays open to execute subsequent script steps for the same service name and topic. If the script includes another DDE Execute script step using a different service name or topic, FileMaker Pro closes the current connection and opens another with the new service name and topic. All open connections close when the script is completed.