>>>>the task manager shows that Excel is still active! And the only way I can get rid of it is by cancelling the program and then it miraculously disappears!
>>>>
>>>>(I confirmed with the debugger that the catch is NOT activated after I _screen.oStuff.oExcel.QUIT(), so I assume that the statement executes)
>>>>
>>>>???
>>>
>>>That's why I don't like automation of Office. Try to work things out with excel visible first.It's possible that there's still some dialog it's trying to show - perhaps a "are you sure". Try with .oExcel.quit(0) - the parameter, IIRC, would tell it not to ask any questions.
>>
>>PMFJI, regarding your saying "I don't like automation of Office", how else would you go about creating a program to convert an excel spreadsheet to a .DBF? Do you know of a reliable method of "opening" an Excel spreadsheet and getting value from a cell, e.g. A-1?
>
>Well, if a xls is what you start from, you don't have much choice :).
>
>My preferred method would be to use Excel to export to a csv, and then import that. Also, not using .value of a cell, but rather .text in some cases, because of Excel trying to be smart and interpret .text into .value for you, when it can surprise you badly.

Thank you for your reply. The method of exporting to csv is what I have done in the past too.