Hi!

>Hi there
>
>Does anybody know if VFP7 has an ability to output to one of the more updated versions of excel. We are currently having problems because of the record limit in excel. Does anybody have any ideas or more information on this.
>

No, there were no improvements for that. You can save large number of records into several Excel files, then open Exel using OLE Automation and join these files together.

>Also how can I start Excel or other similar programs from VFP, and also check that it is open so not to open it. Basically so I can the use a connection to another app to output/input data.
>

Take a look in the help to the GetObject() function - it does exactly the same. Following is from the help file:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
With some server applications, each time you issue GETOBJECT( ), an additional instance of the application is started, using additional memory. If the application is already running, you can prevent additional instances of the application from starting by omitting FileName and including ClassName, as in this example:

oleApp = GETOBJECT(, "Excel.Application")
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

HTH.

>Thanks in advance for any info,
>
>Regards,
>
>Simon