>hi ther,
>I have to get data from documents made in Excel into VFP. I was thinking to use Office Automation, but I don't remember how to call the excel object and how to read into its cells.
>Could I be sent into the right threads ? :-)
>Thank you
>Alessio

Would something like bellow work for you?

FUNCTION fSplitIntoDBF
LPARAMETERS tcInputFile, tnStartFromRow, tcDbfFile, tlCreateStructure, tcPassword

IF EMPTY(m.tcInputFile)
	tcInputFile = GETFILE('xls','Select XLS', 'Select', 0, 'Select XLS to create DBF from')
	IF EMPTY(m.tcInputFile)
		RETURN "Input file is not passed"
	ENDIF
ENDIF
IF EMPTY(m.tcPassword)
	tcPassword = ""
ELSE
	tcPassword = UPPER(m.tcPassword)
ENDIF

LOCAL loExcel, lcMsg, lcCellValue, lcStr, lcRange, ;
	lnRow, lnCol, lnNumSheets, lnDoneSheets, lni, loSheet, ;
	lnRows, lnCols, llValFound, loErr, ;
	lnSameField, lnK, lnSheet, lnFinalRows, ;
	lnFinalCols, lcStructureDBF, lnFldLen, lcColLetter, lnK, loRange

LOCAL ARRAY laFieldNames[1,3], laTestNames[1]

lcMsg = ""
lcCellValue = ""
lnDoneSheets = 0
IF EMPTY(m.tnStartFromRow)
	tnStartFromRow = 1
ENDIF

TRY

	loExcel = CREATEOBJECT("Excel.Application")
*-- Open XLS File
	loExcel.DisplayAlerts = .F.
	loExcel.APPLICATION.WorkBooks.OPEN(m.tcInputFile,,,,m.tcPassword)

	lnNumSheets = loExcel.APPLICATION.APPLICATION.WorkBooks(1).Sheets.COUNT

	FOR lnSheet = 1 TO m.lnNumSheets

*-- Select individual sheet from opened XLS File
		loSheet = loExcel.APPLICATION.APPLICATION.WorkBooks(1).Sheets(m.lnSheet)
		WITH loSheet
			.SELECT

			lcStr = loExcel.APPLICATION.ActiveSheet.NAME

** Do this only for non-SUMMARY sheets in the spreadsheet
			IF !("SUMMARY" $ UPPER(m.lcStr))

				lnDoneSheets = m.lnDoneSheets + 1

** Delete first N unused rows (help by Sergey Berezniker)
				IF m.tnStartFromRow > 1
					.RANGE("A1" , "A" + TRANSFORM(m.tnStartFromRow)).EntireRow.DELETE()
				ENDIF

*-- Find total # of columns and rows
				lnCols = .UsedRange.COLUMNS.COUNT
				lnFinalCols = m.lnCols
				lnRows = .UsedRange.ROWS.COUNT
				lnFinalRows = m.lnRows

*-- Find total # of really used rows
				FOR lnRow = m.lnRows TO 1 STEP -1
					llValFound = .F.
					FOR lnCol = m.lnCols TO 1 STEP -1
						lcCellValue = .Cells(m.lnRow,m.lnCol).VALUE
						IF NOT (EMPTY(m.lcCellValue) OR ISNULL(m.lcCellValue))
							llValFound = .T.
							EXIT
						ENDIF
					NEXT
					IF !m.llValFound
						.ROWS(m.lnRow).DELETE()
						lnFinalRows = m.lnFinalRows - 1
					ENDIF
				NEXT

				lnRows = m.lnFinalRows &&.UsedRange.rows.count

*-- Find total # of really used columns
				FOR lnCol = m.lnCols TO 1 STEP -1
					llValFound = .F.
					FOR lnRow = m.lnRows TO 1 STEP -1
						lcCellValue = .Cells(m.lnRow,m.lnCol).VALUE
						IF NOT (EMPTY(m.lcCellValue) OR ISNULL(m.lcCellValue))
							llValFound = .T.
							EXIT
						ENDIF
					NEXT
					IF NOT m.llValFound
						.COLUMNS(m.lnCols).DELETE()
						lnFinalCols = m.lnFinalCols - 1
					ENDIF
				NEXT

				lnRows = m.lnFinalRows
				lnCols = MIN(m.lnFinalCols, 254) && table limitation
				lcRange = "A1:"
** Code from Sergey Berezniker
				lcColLetter = IIF(m.lnCols > 26, CHR(INT((m.lnCols - 1) / 26) + 64), "") + ;
					CHR(((m.lnCols - 1) % 26) + 65)
				lcRange = m.lcRange + m.lcColLetter + ALLTRIM(STR(m.lnRows))

				.RANGE(m.lcRange).SELECT
				loExcel.SELECTION.EntireColumn.HIDDEN = .F.  && Unhide all hidden columns

				DIMENSION laFieldNames[m.lnCols, 3]
				lnK = 0
*-- Create column name array
				FOR lni = 1 TO m.lnCols
					lcCellValue = .Cells(1,m.lni).VALUE
					IF VARTYPE(m.lcCellValue) <> "C"
						IF VARTYPE(m.lcCellValue) = "N"
							lcCellValue = "_"+ ALLTRIM(STR(m.lcCellValue))
						ELSE
							lcCellValue = "Not Valid"
						ENDIF
					ELSE
						lcCellValue = PROPER(STRTRAN(m.lcCellValue,	CHR(10)," "))
					ENDIF

					laFieldNames[m.lnI,1] = fGetFieldName(m.lcCellValue)

					IF VARTYPE(laTestNames[1]) = "C" && array was already populated
						IF ASCAN(laTestNames, laFieldNames[m.lnI,1]) > 0

* This field already exists, lets add a number at the end
							lnK = m.lnK + 1
							laFieldNames[m.lnI,1] = laFieldNames[m.lnI,1] + TRANSFORM(m.lnK)
							lnFldLen = LEN(laFieldNames[m.lnI,1])
							IF m.lnFldLen > 10
								laFieldNames[m.lnI,1] = RIGHT(laFieldNames[m.lnI,1],10)
							ENDIF
						ENDIF
					ENDIF

					DIMENSION laTestNames[m.lnI]
					laTestNames[m.lnI] = laFieldNames[m.lnI,1]
					laFieldNames[m.lnI,2] = ALLTRIM(m.lcCellValue)
					laFieldNames[m.lnI,3] = m.lni
				NEXT

				IF EMPTY(m.tcDbfFile)
					lcStr = STRTRAN(m.lcStr,SPACE(1),"_")
					lcStr = STRTRAN(m.lcStr,".","_")
					lcStr = UPPER(STRTRAN(UPPER(JUSTFNAME(m.tcInputFile)),".XLS","") + ;
						"(" + m.lcStr + ")")
					tcDbfFile = SYS(5) - CURDIR()- m.lcStr
				ENDIF

				IF m.tlCreateStructure
					lcStructureDBF = ADDBS(JUSTPATH(m.tcDbfFile)) + 'XLSStructure'
					SELECT 0
					CREATE TABLE (m.lcStructureDBF) FREE ;
						(cShortName C(10), cLongName C(100), iSeq i)
					INDEX ON UPPER(cLongName) TAG cLongName
					APPEND FROM ARRAY laFieldNames
					USE && Close the structure table
				ENDIF

** Assign new column names to the first row
				FOR lni = 1 TO m.lnCols
					.Cells(1,laFieldNames[m.lnI,3]).VALUE = laFieldNames[m.lnI,1]
					.COLUMNS[m.lnI].EntireColumn.AUTOFIT()
*!*						if ' date ' $ " " + lower(laFieldNames[m.lnI,2]) + " " && date field
*!*							loRange = .UsedRange.Offset(2) && we don't want to apply format for header row
*!*							loRange.columns[m.lnI].NumberFormat = "mm/dd/yyyy"
*!*	                    endif
					TRY
** To make sure long descriptions fit
						IF 	.COLUMNS[m.lnI].COLUMNWIDTH > 15
							.COLUMNS[m.lnI].COLUMNWIDTH = 240
						ELSE
							.COLUMNS[m.lnI].COLUMNWIDTH = 15
						ENDIF
					CATCH TO loRangeProblem
* Let's ignore this error with the range and column width
						lcMsg = Log_Error(m.loRangeProblem)
					ENDTRY
				NEXT
*#DEFINE xlDBF3	8
*#DEFINE xlDBF4 11
				loExcel.ActiveWorkbook.SAVEAS(m.tcDbfFile, 11)
			ENDIF
		ENDWITH
	NEXT

	IF (m.lnDoneSheets = 0)
		lcMsg = "There are no non-summary sheets in the " + ;
			JUSTFNAME(m.tcInputFile) + " file - cannot process."
	ELSE
		IF (m.lnDoneSheets > 1)
			lcMsg = "There are too many sheets in the " + ;
				JUSTFNAME(m.tcInputFile) + " file - cannot determine which one to use."
		ENDIF
	ENDIF

CATCH TO loErr
	lcMsg = Log_Error(m.loErr)
FINALLY
	IF VARTYPE(m.loExcel) = 'O'
		loExcel.QUIT
		loExcel = NULL
	ENDIF
ENDTRY

RETURN m.lcMsg

ENDFUNC

************************************************************
*  FUNCTION fGetFieldName()
************************************************************
FUNCTION fGetFieldName
LPARAMETERS tcName

LOCAL lcStr, lcAllowedChars, lcFind

lcStr = ALLTRIM(m.tcName)
lcAllowedChars = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ' + LOWER('ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ') + "_0123456789"

lcFind = CHRTRAN(m.lcStr, m.lcAllowedChars, SPACE(7))

IF LEN(m.lcFind) > 0
	lcStr = CHRTRAN(m.lcStr, m.lcFind,REPLICATE("_",LEN(m.lcFind)))
ENDIF
lcStr = LEFT(ALLTRIM(m.lcStr), 8)
IF ASC(LEFT(m.lcStr,1)) >= ASC("0") AND ASC(LEFT(m.lcStr,1)) <= ASC("9")
	lcStr = "_"+ m.lcStr
ENDIF

RETURN m.lcStr

ENDFUNC