I am trying to use DDEInitiate() with MS Excel 95 but cannot get it to work. I'm running VFP 5 and Win 95.

If I just issue a basic call to DDEInitiate from the command window as follows:

nChann = DDEInitiate( "EXCEL", "System" )

nChann is always -1. This is always the case regardless if:
Excel is closed OR open.
The topic is "Sheet1", "Book1", "Book1:Sheet1", etc, etc.

If DDESetOption( "SAFETY" ) is True, then I get the message:

"Remote data is not accessible. Start application 'EXCEL.EXE'?"

I get this message even if Excel is already open!

The same problem does not happen with Word (DDEInitiate( 'WINWORD', 'System' ) works perfectly) or MS Access (DDEInitiate( 'MSACCESS', 'System' )).

Have I got the ServiceName wrong?
Anyone have any ideas?