Word Mail Merge with Foxpro data

[Ginny]

I notice there is no longer a way to mail merge in Word
(current version -
2003) with the data source being a Foxpro database. In
Word 2000 and
previous versions, I chose "Open Data Source", chose files
of type MS
FoxPro, chose my dbf, and then it prompted me to "Confirm
Data Source,
where I chose "Foxpro files - Word via ODBC (*.dbf)", and
then went ahead
and chose any dbf I wanted. This is no longer possible and
I'd like to
confirm this with anyone out there. NOW, in Word 2003, I
have to click
"Browse" under the 'Use an existing list' section, and the
only choice
even close is 'Dbase files'. I choose this and then
choose a Foxpro
database, but no matter what format the dbf came from
(VFP,FP 2.x, or
Dbase), Word gives me the error "Word was unable to open
the data source".
Can anyone tell me how to merge with foxpro in the newest
version of
Word? I know I can choose "New Source" and it gives me
the Data
Connection Wizard where I can set up an ODBC DSN, but then
I have to give
Word the location of the specific database. And if I
choose a path, and
then unclick the checkbox "Connect to a specific table",
then I can only
choose a table from that path. It's just so un-flexible
now. I never had
to do any of that.
Sorry this is so long, but I'm wondering if anyone can
help with and/or
confirm this problem.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

As far as I can tell...

As long as you have the updated FoxPro ODBC driver (I think you will see
a message if you do not) then you should still be able to do something
like this, but
a. you will need to ensure that there is an ODBC DSN for FoxPro on
your system (see below)
b. you need to check Word Tools|Options|General|"Confirm conversions
at open" to ensure that the extra dialog to "confirm the data source" is
displayed
c. in that dialog, you may need to check "Show all"

When you create the DSN in the ODBC administrator, as far as I can tell
you need to choose the Driver name "Microsoft FoxPro VFP Driver (*.dbf)"
(or the equivalent name with ".dbf" in it if you are using a non-English
language version of the driver), not the one named "Microsoft Visual
FoxPro Driver". Otherwise, the DSN does not appear in the list of
sources in the Confirm Data Source type, despite the fact that it is
apparently the same driver. You can leave the path name in the DSN blank
if you are opening .dbf files. The version of the driver I just
downloaded is 6.1.8629.1. You have to accept some licence conditions
when you install it - the OLEDB provider ones appear geared for
developers so you may need to check the ODBC driver conditions
carefully. Also, neither the ODBC driver nor OLEDB provider has been
"signed", which means that some versions of Windows will pop up a
warning dialog.