>>>>>>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>I am trying the command IMPORT at a spreadsheet saved as Excel 2003. The command I use is
>>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>>>import from MyFileName type xl8
>>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>>>Every time I try (in VFP 9 Command Prompt) the VFP crashes. What should I look for as a cause of this problem? TIA.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Workbooks saved as Excel 2003 from later versions of Excel aren't actually in the Excel 2003 format.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Tamar
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I will check for the exact version. Thank you.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I suggest to not attempt to use Import command anymore. Check Craig Boyd's program or try APPEND FROM. I recommend the first and I recently implemented it in my utility.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I don't know which Craig Boyd's program you mean so maybe when you come back to UT on Sunday you can let me know. And I didn't know that APPEND FROM can be used for Excel spreadsheet; or maybe I am mistaken.
>>>>>
>>>>>APPEND FROM does work for Excel workbooks that are in the 2003 and earlier format. The problem is that when you Save As that format from Excel 2007 or later, or from Excel 2003 with the add-on that can read XLSX files, the file you get isn't really in the Excel 2003 format, and VFP chokes on it (though I haven't actually seen crashes).
>>>>>
>>>>>See this KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954318
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>It's a shame Excel and FoxPro do not come from the same vendor, then all this could have been avoided ;-)
>>>
>>><g>
>>>
>>>You can be sure that if we were writing the Hacker's Guide now, this one would have a bug icon (though I consider it an Excel but, not a VFP bug).
>>>
>>
>>I definitely blame it on the Excel team (even though you have a son who is on it). FoxPro compatibility wasn't something they were going to be bothered with.
>>
>>PS for readers -- Tamar's son did not join the Office team until much later and I don't know that he has worked with Excel specifically.
>
>He's on the SharePoint team.
>

My mistake. I thought you said he went through a huge stretch of work when Office 2010 shipped.

By happenstance I sat next to an ex Microsoft guy at a .NET conference on Saturday. He was on the Windows Phone 5 team. (Even though he was diplomatic about it, what he said about that product would never have come from the mouth of a Microsoft marketeer <g>). He and his wife are both from Wisconsin and agreed that they would come back from Seattle when they started a family. If he was unhappy at Microsoft he didn't indicate it. He is now an IT manager at a prominent midwest department store chain. Mostly we talked about kids. They have two boys, aged 5 and 3. He said the 5 year old is already adept with his iPhone. (The dad's, that is). He said the other day his son asked Siri where the nearest ice cream truck was. Siri delivered up the 25 closest ice cream stores.