>>The main problem with this is how do I turn it into a bitmap

You can do this by putting an OLE general field instance in a form, referencing the form in a UDF called by the report bands, and poking values into the general field's graph (or chart) as you go through the detail instances. You don't really need a file to exist anywhere, IOW.

But you can turn an Excel chart or graph into a bitmap too, if you want, without seeing Excel.

The basic method is something like this:

* -- design a template XLS with the graph you need

* -- automate Excel to poke the appropriate values in (user does *not* have to see this)

* -- tell Excel to SaveAs type HTML

* -- grab the resulting image(s) which are always named and positioned according to a specific pattern with respect to the file path and name of the HTML file

* -- rename and re-position the image file(s) as you want them.

In VFP 9, of course, you have other possibilities that don't involve MS Chart or Excel at all <g>.

>L<