BUG: Character Field Appears as Date in Microsoft Graph

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 5.0, 5.0a
• Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.5 and 2.5a

SYMPTOMS

When FoxPro is outputting a character field to Microsoft Graph that contains values that look like dates, the graph will display these numbers in the dd-mmm (day-month) format. For example, a character field containing "1-10" or "1/10" will display as "10-Jan" on the graph. Anything larger than "12-31" or "12/31" displays correctly since there are no months that would correspond with these numbers.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem and display the character fields correctly, place a blank space at the beginning of the character expression. To do this without making any modifications to the actual database file, do the following:

1. FoxPro 2.X: In the RQBE window, select the Fields check box.

   Visual FoxPro: In the Query Designer window, select the Fields Tab.

2. Remove the character field from the Selected Output list.

3. In the Functions/Expressions box, type

         " "+<char>
   

       where <char> is the name of the character field.
   

4. Choose Move to move the expression to the Selected Output list.

5. Output the query to a graph.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in FoxPro 2.5 and 2.5a for Windows. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.