It stops at the endtry - thanks Tore for all your time - I am going to call it a day

>>>Set a breakpoint at the first line, and open the debugger. Then you step through each line, and notice what's going on.
>>
>>Never done that in all the years i have been using VFP - how do I do it?
>
>Then you have spent much time unnecessarily.
>1. Doubleclick in the left column in the editor, and you will see a red dot appear. This red dot indicates a breakpoint.
>2. Open the debugger
>3. Run your program
>Now the program will stop at the line with the breakpoint, and you can step through the code, one line at the time.
>
>Update:
>
>I strongly recommend that you read this article written by Tamar: http://www.tomorrowssolutionsllc.com/Articles/Learn%20to%20Use%20the%20Debugger.PDF
>
>>>
>>>>>And which line is no. 26?
>>>>
>>>>Sorry it was line 28 - ENDTRY
>>>>>
>>>>>>>Would be nice to know the errorcodes :)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Unhandled structured exception
>>>>>>Error no 1429
>>>>>>Lineno26
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I haven't used functions before - I have always avoided them - this is my code but it gives errors
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>DO xls_import
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>FUNCTION xls_import
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>PARAMETERS tcFile
>>>>>>>>** Replaces VFP Import Command for XLS.  VFP Command does not accept xlsx file formats
>>>>>>>>** First try the standard import.  
>>>>>>>>** If it failes with error code 1661 (Microsoft Excel file format is invalid.) then open Excel and resave with format 39( xlExcel5, xlExcel7 )
>>>>>>>>** Try to import again.
>>>>>>>>** If it succeeds, return the name of the table
>>>>>>>>** If it still fails, return an empty string.  Calling program will check for EMPTY() to determine success
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>LOCAL lcReturn,lcNewFile
>>>>>>>>lcReturn = ""
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>TRY
>>>>>>>>	IMPORT FROM ("c:\colin.xlsx") XLS
>>>>>>>>	lcReturn = DBF()
>>>>>>>>CATCH
>>>>>>>>	=AERROR(abcde)
>>>>>>>>	IF abcde[1] = 1661
>>>>>>>>		tmpoxl=CREATEOBJECT("excel.application")
>>>>>>>>		tmpoxl.DisplayAlerts = .F.
>>>>>>>>		tmpoxl.Application.WorkBooks.Open(tcFile)
>>>>>>>>		lcNewFile = "c:\tempdl\" + JUSTFNAME(tcfile)
>>>>>>>>		tmpoxl.activeworkbook.saveas(lcnewfile,39)
>>>>>>>>		tmpoxl.quit
>>>>>>>>		tmpoxl= .null.
>>>>>>>>		TRY
>>>>>>>>			IMPORT FROM (lcnewfile) xls
>>>>>>>>			lcReturn = DBF()
>>>>>>>>		CATCH
>>>>>>>>		ENDTRY
>>>>>>>>		DELETE FILE (lcnewfile)
>>>>>>>>	ENDIF
>>>>>>>>ENDTRY
>>>>>>>>RETURN lcReturn
>>>>>>>>