David,

>A small but vital part of a VFP application I have in development is the ability to import data from ASCII, MS Excel and xBase files. This functionality is a common requirement; appears in many proprietary softwares; must have been coded many times.
>
>I don't want to re-invent the wheel so I am looking for a component that is generic and provides the necessary functionality.

You might want to model what you do on the Import Wizard built into VFP. You apparently cannot distribute the import wizard as-is, but you can include and use the wizard class library (wizstyle.vcx) in building your own import routines and can get ideas from the wizard code itself.

You can find the source code for the Import Wizard in the Tools\XSource directory under your VFP home directory -- unzip the XSource.zip and look in the project wzimport.pjx.

Here is the relevant licensing info from the VFP Help:

Restricted Visual FoxPro Files
Visual FoxPro installs files on your computer that are restricted and may not be reproduced or distributed, including:

Wizard files
TrueType fonts
SpellCheck utility files
Help files

Although you cannot distribute Visual FoxPro sample applications with your applications, you can refer to portions of sample application code as examples for building your own application. You can also include the wizard class library, Wizstyle.vcx, and the sample class libraries in your application.