PRB: OLE Error When Appending from Excel 97 Workbook

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0b, 5.0, 5.0a on the following platforms: NT, Win95

SYMPTOMS

When you use the APPEND FROM <filename> TYPE XL5 to import an Excel 97 workbook into a FoxPro table, one of two OLE error messages appear:

Visual FoxPro versions 3.0x and 5.0x running on Windows 95 produces the following error:

   OLE error code
   0X800300002:%1
   could not be found

   OLE error code
   0X800300002:
   unknown OLE status code

CAUSE

The APPEND FROM command in Visual FoxPro versions 3.0x and 5.0x does not support Excel 97 workbook files.

RESOLUTION

Here are two resolutions:

• Save the Excel workbook in Excel as a Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 workbook and use the APPEND FROM command with the TYPE XL5 clause.

  -or-

• Save the file as a Microsoft Excel 4.0, 3.0 or 2.1 worksheet and use the TYPE XLS clause.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Since both error messages are OLE errors and most developers do not consider APPEND FROM to be an OLE command, it is not apparent that the Excel file type is causing the error to occur.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Start Microsoft Excel 97 and create a new workbook.

2. In cells A1 through C1, type the following data:

         Some test data
   

3. Save the file to your Visual FoxPro home folder with the name Ztest.xls as a Microsoft Excel Workbook (*.xls) and then close Excel.

4. Start Visual FoxPro and type the following command in the FoxPro Command window to create a test table:

         CREATE TABLE ztest (first c(10), second c(10), third c(10))
   

5. In the FoxPro Command window, type the following command to import data from the Excel workbook:

         APPEND FROM Ztest.xls TYPE XL5
   

   The error that appears depends on the operating system on the machine.