Range name of "\0"? - How can I slide this past Excel?

[Mr Big]

I have a 123 file (spit out from Lotus Notes- will be written in a wk4
format) that I am getting written in .wk4 format, reading into Excel,
and then writing back out from Excel to 123 (wk4 format) so that Notes
can read it in. The application works fine in the US, but in Europe,
I get in trouble with date formats, since 123 will open the file in
wk4 format, which loses all of the formatting. So a date like
04/24/2007 in Excel will open as 24.04.2007 in German 123, and that
causes all sorts of problems.

I was thinking that if I write an autoexecute macro in 123, I might be
able to fiddle with the format (make it 24-Apr-2007 or something like
that), and see in Notes can digest that. I have written an old style
macro, and can even make it erase itself after it executes ( /
RFD1<<range>>~/RE<<cell>>~ ) - but my problem is that when I do a
Range/Name/Define in Excel, I can't name a macro \0. It seems to be
an invalid name.

Does anyone have any ideas on this one? I'll take any other
suggestions people have (changing the Notes app is unfortunately out
of the question).

Thanks a ton,
Brandon

(please don't send mail to the address above - it is deactivated right
now - will read the forum).

 

[Dave Peterson]

How about a test when you're trying to manually delete that name...

Tools|Options|general tab|check R1C1 Reference style.

See if you get a prompt stating that you have an invalid name and it has to be
renamed. If you do name it something that's ok (deleteme01). Then delete that
name and go back to A1 reference style.

 

[Harlan Grove]

I have a 123 file (spit out from Lotus Notes- will be written in a wk4
format) that I am getting written in .wk4 format, reading into Excel,
and then writing back out from Excel to 123 (wk4 format) so that Notes
can read it in. The application works fine in the US, but in Europe,
I get in trouble with date formats, since 123 will open the file in
wk4 format, which loses all of the formatting. So a date like
04/24/2007 in Excel will open as 24.04.2007 in German 123, and that
causes all sorts of problems.

What sort of problems? Isn't is a good thing Germans can see dates in
formats that they're used to? Do you mean that once such a .WK4 file is
opened and saved by someone in Germany, it'll always display dates in
dd.mm.yyyy format?

How is Notes generating the .WK4 file? Is it from a form with an embedded
123 object? Is it from an exported view? Does the .WK4 file contain formulas
or only constants?

I was thinking that if I write an autoexecute macro in 123, I might be
able to fiddle with the format (make it 24-Apr-2007 or something like
that), and see in Notes can digest that. . . .

....

This won't work in all Excel versions, and \0 macros would only be run when
the .WK4 files open, which means it needs to be in the .WK4 files BEFORE
they're opened in Excel. Note: if you save a .WK4 file with a \0 macro from
123, Excel WILL see \0 as a defined name when it opens the file. So are you
trying to add the \0 macro in Notes or in Excel? If in Excel, you'd have
better luck using a VBA macro in an .XLS file to open the .WK4 file and
change its formatting than trying to hack anything with 123 classic macros
in Excel.

 

[Mr Big]

Harlan and Dave,

Thanks for your answers.

Dave, the sequence is that Notes will open the .wk4 file, so I wanted
to have the macro run automatically in that case.

Harlan, I agree - the Germans should see the date as 24.04.2007, which
is fine, but the Germans aren't reading the file when it opens in 123
- Notes is, and Notes is throwing up on the date not having slashes in
it. What I really want to do is write out 04/24/2007 in all cases,
and I can do that fine - have written VBA code to do that - but when
you open the file in 123, it loses all of the formatting. That's my
problem. I tried putting a quote in front of the cell to make it a
text field, and that kept the formatting, but Notes didn't like that
either. I agree that 123 classic may not be the best idea, but I'm
running out of thoughts on this one! I just wish Microsoft allowed
you to write out .123 files - that would make my life a lot easier!

Thanks,
Brandon