On Thu, 11 Oct 2001 12:06:26 -0400, Fred Gehm <fred.x.gehm@HOUSEHOLD.COM> wrote:

>Hi SAS-L'ers: > >1. I'm trying to querry a spreadsheet to find out what worksheets it >contains. The commented input line below reads from Excel, but it doesn't >seem to read enough. It cuts off at 256 characters. Any ideas? > >%let dataLoc = excel spreadsheet location... ; >%let spreadSName = excel spreadsheet name... ; >run; > > >x "&excelLoc\excel.exe"; >data _null_; x=sleep(5);run; >filename cmd dde 'excel|system!topics'; >data _null_; > file log; > length line $ 200; > file cmd; > put '[error(false)]'; > line = '[open('||quote("&dataLoc\&spreadSName")||', ,TRUE, , , ,TRUE)]'; > file log; > put line; > file cmd; > put line; > put '[error(true)]'; > put '[app.minimize()]'; >run; >data _null_; x=sleep(5);run; >data _null_; > infile cmd length=length; > length line $ 1000 phrase sheetnamePlus$ 200 sheetname $ 50; > * retain dataLoc fileName; > * dataLoc = "&dataLoc"; > * fileName = "&&&file&kount"; > * defaultKount = &defaultKount; > input @; > input line $varying. length; /*this line should read more than it does*/ >** input @1 line $1000.; >** input @; >** input line1 $varying. length; > put // line=; >run; > >2. Thanks to Rob Workman, William Viergever, and Mark Terjeson for the help. >I should have explained that I don't own the Excel file so I can't turn >it's error messages off. Opps. Sorry. The line: > > put '[error(false)]'; > >seams to work about half the time. I haven't noticed a partern to it's >failures. > >3. Does anyone ever spell Willaim Viergever's name right????

I'm not sure if that helps! Just an idea: try to use the lrecl=1000 (or more) option in the INFILE statement. The SAS default is 256. Maybe that is not possible for DDE, but try it...