Importing from Lotus 1-2-3

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When you import spreadsheet data, Visual FoxPro uses the first row in your Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet to determine the data types of the fields in the new table. If the first row has literal text headings for each column, all the fields in the table will be character fields, even if the rest of the rows contain numeric data.

To make sure fields have the appropriate data type

  • In Lotus 1-2-3, modify the spreadsheet so that the first row contains the first record of data you want in the table.

    Caution   If your worksheet is from version 2.x or 3.x (file extension .wk1 or .wk3) and has columns with more than eight or nine characters, Visual FoxPro truncates character fields to nine characters for version 2.x worksheets and eight characters for version 3.x. To prevent truncated fields in your table, you can use the Import Wizard or create a Visual FoxPro table, then append records from the worksheet.

Lotus stores dates as the non-negative number of days from January 1, 1900. If the new table does not have the correct data type, you can translate the Lotus date fields in Visual FoxPro.

See Also

Importing Data into a New Table | Translating Lotus Date Fields | Importing and Exporting Data | Importing from Microsoft Excel | The Process of Appending Data | Importing Data with the Import Wizard | Importing Data into a New Table