Microsoft KB Archive/23459

SYLK File Format Problems with Dbase III PSS ID Number: Q23459 Article last modified on 08-11-1988 PSS database name: D_MPlan

3.00

MS-DOS

Problem: There is a problem regarding the transfer of Symbolic Link (SYLK) files to Dbase III. When trying to read the file, Dbase will respond with the error message “Invalid Header”. The problem can be overcome by editing the SYLK file and removing the date and time references. The offending lines are as follows:

P;Pd-m-yy P;Pm/d P;Pd-mmm-yy P;Pd-mmm P;Pmmm-yy P;Ph:mm AM/PM P;Ph:mm:ss AM/PM P;Ph:mm P;Ph:mm:ss P;Pm/d/yy h:mm

These lines are new in the SYLK file format with the release of Version 3.00 and are relevant for the time/date function of this new version.

Response: The SYLK format is a flexible format that should allow any program to read only the information that it requires. In this case it appears that the Dbase III program is looking for a specific record placement within the SYLK file. What is needed is for the Dbase program to read only the information that it is capable of processing and ignoring anything else that may appear in the file. If you encounter this problem you should contact the Dbase people to see if they have an updated version of the program that will read SYLK files properly.

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1988.