FIX: Copy/Paste Causes GP Fault w/Worksheet Created by COPY TO

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0 and 3.0b

SYMPTOMS

A general protection (GP) fault may occur when you try to paste a range of cells copied from a worksheet that you originally created from a table in Visual FoxPro. The error states:

   This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.
   If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

   EXCEL caused an invalid page fault in module EXCEL.EXE at
   01737:5014a2f8.

CAUSE

This error occurs when the following conditions exist:

• You created a Microsoft Excel version 5.0 .xls file.
• You are using Microsoft Excel version 7.0 to edit the file.

WORKAROUND

There are two workarounds for this problem.

Method 1

To create the .xls file in Visual FoxPro, use the COPY TO command in the following form:

     COPY TO filename TYPE XLS

     COPY TO filename TYPE XL5

Method 2

After using the COPY TO command with the TYPE XL5 clause to create a Microsoft Excel worksheet, use only Microsoft Excel version 5.0 to open the resulting worksheet.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem has been fixed in Visual FoxPro 5.0 for Windows.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Excel version 7.0 for Windows was not available when Visual FoxPro for Windows was released.

Steps to Reproduce Problem

1. Open or switch to Microsoft Visual FoxPro.

2. Open (with the USE command) the Customer table from \Vfp\Samples\Data.

3. In the Command window, enter the following line of code:

   COPY TO C:\TEST.XLS TYPE XL5

4. Start Microsoft Excel version 7. Then locate and open Test.xls.

5. Select some range of cells (can be one).

6. On the Edit menu, click Copy. Then on the File menu, click New.

7. Click the General tab, select Workbook, and click OK.

8. On the Edit menu, click Paste. At this point, the error occurs.