Cindy,
An address was posted that lets you read Menachem Bazian's book. Take a look at Chapter 21. He has a UDF(GetCOMInstance.PRG) that attempts to retieve an instance of a COM server.
I told Menachem I thought this chapter was worth the price of the book.
He also has a program to make a header file from type library constants.

The address is http://www.informit.com/product/0789718081/

Tom Molloy

>>Have you tried using GETOBJECT instead of CREATEOBJECT to use an instance of any COM object? The GETOBJECT requires an error handler to execute CREATEOBJECT if the object is not found.
>
>Thanks Tom. Just tried it. (I'm a little new to OOP.) Now I'll reach for oExcel = GETOBJECT( , [Excel.Application]) thanks to you.