Character Field Transferred to Microsoft Excel as Numeric

• Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.5, 2.5a, 2.5b

SYMPTOMS

A FoxPro character type field that contains numbers is converted to a numeric field in Microsoft Excel when the FoxPro dynamic data exchange (DDE) functions are used.

RESOLUTION

To avoid this situation, do one of the following:

• Add a single quotation mark to the beginning of the field; for example:

        =DDEPOKE(mchan,"R1C1","'"+fld1)
  

  NOTE: This method will transfer the FLD1 field as character but will add an additional single quotation mark toward the beginning of the field. This extra quotation mark can be removed manually or with the help of a Microsoft Excel macro.

  -or-

• Add '="' to the beginning of the field and '"' to the end; for example:

        =DDEPOKE(CHAN,"R1C1",'="'+fld1+'"')
  

  With this method, Microsoft Excel will treat the contents of FLD1 as an expression.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Problem

1. Open Microsoft Excel with Sheet1 as the active worksheet.

2. Open FoxPro for Windows and issue the following commands from the Command window:

         CREATE TABLE xddetst.dbf (fld1 C(8))
         APPEND BLANK
         REPLACE fld1 WITH "12345678"
         mchan = DDEINITIATE("EXCEL","SHEET1")
         =DDEPOKE(mchan,"R1C1",fld1)
   

   With the above DDEPOKE() command FoxPro will send the FLD1 field contents to cell A1 in Sheet1 of Microsoft Excel.

3. Press ALT+TAB to switch to Microsoft Excel. Here you will see that the contents of FLD1 were transferred to cell A1 in Sheet1 as a numeric field.