>>>>Peter,
>>>>
>>>>Thanks a lot. Here is what I found in the header file.
>>>>
>>>>typedef struct tagDPIDate
>>>>{
>>>> short jour;
>>>> short mois;
>>>> short annee;
>>>>} DPIDate, FAR * LPDPIDate;
>>>>
>>>>I removed the text of your message in this answer because I'm using the offline reader and it's plain memo...
>>>>
>>>>José
>>>
>>>The length of the string should be 6.
>>>
>>>After the dll procedure returns you can unpack it by:
>>>lnJour = UnpackShort(substr(m.lcStr, 1, 2))
>>>lnMois = UnpackShort(substr(m.lcStr, 3, 2))
>>>lnAnnee = UnpackShort(substr(m.lcStr, 5, 2))
>>>
>>>** Here is a VFP procedure that will unpack the datatype short:
>>>function UnpackShort
>>> lparameters lcStr
>>> assert len(m.lcStr) = 2
>>> local lnLeft, lnRight
>>> lnLeft = asc(left(m.lcStr, 1))
>>> lnRight = asc(right(m.lcStr, 1))
>>> return iif(bitand(lnRight, 0x80) = 0x80), -1, 1) * bitor(lnLeft, bitand(lnRight, 0x7f))
>>
>>I understand why you use the BITAND in the IIF. But I really don't get the part after the "*" sign. IMHO, you can't obtain the correct value using this formula.
>>
>>I would go for the simple one:
>>return lnRight * 256 + lnLeft
>>
>>Of course, you can add the part for the sign, but I don't see how you can have negative values for day, month or year.
>>
>
>I just wrote this routine as a general purpose 'short unpacker'. Shorts are signed, so I thought I would include that detail to make the routine more exact. Sometimes I get caught up in the details though! :)
>Peter

Yes, I understood what you do for the sign. But I didn't understand the BITOR part. And it doesn't work. Or am I missing something?

Vlad