Hi Yossi,

>I have a table with a character field. I COPY it to an XLS. In the case that the data in the field is numeric, I want the data to be numeric in the XLS file.

if you don't have to support Excel 95 and Excel 97, you can create an XML file in XMLSS format. The format is pretty simple:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"
 xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet">
  <Worksheet ss:Name="Sheet1">
    <Table>
      <Column ss:Width="200"/>
      <Row>
        <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">123.456</Data></Cell>
      </Row>
    </Table>
  </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

At Southwest Fox I'll have a session that covers this format in great detail.