With Visual FoxPro, you can employ the strengths of other applications by sharing information with them. You can copy and paste data between applications, create mail merges using data from Visual FoxPro tables, link or embed data from other applications, and import or export data between applications. By sharing information, you can save time and avoid errors. For example, instead of entering results from Excel in a table, you can copy the results from Excel or link to Excel to get the results automatically.

In addition, you can extend the power of your Visual FoxPro applications by employing the strengths of other Automation-enabled applications or ActiveX controls. In the forms or General fields of your applications, you can include specific functionality or data such as text, sound, pictures, and video from other applications. You can view or manipulate this data visibly by using the application that created it or you can manipulate the data invisibly and automatically by controlling the application with Automation.

Other applications also can tap into the power of Visual FoxPro through Automation. You can even create Automation servers (COM components) in Visual FoxPro that your applications or other applications can access locally and remotely.

In This Section

Dynamic Information Sharing: Explains how, using Visual FoxPro, you can include data from other applications dynamically and still have those applications maintain the data by linking or embedding it in your application.

Working with OLE Objects: Describes how you can add OLE objects to applications.

Related Sections

Interoperability and the Internet: Explains how to use OLE drag-and-drop to develop applications that make it possible for you to move data between Microsoft Windows-based applications and within a Visual FoxPro application. Create documents for use on the Internet, or use one of two different Visual FoxPro run times to create COM components (Automation servers) as normal or multithreaded applications.

Developing Visual FoxPro Applications: Includes conceptual information about how to develop Visual FoxPro applications, instructions for creating databases and the user interface, and other tasks needed to create Visual FoxPro applications.

OLE Drag-and-Drop: Describes OLE drag-and-drop, a powerful and useful tool supported by Visual FoxPro, which makes it possible for you to move data between other applications that support OLE drag-and-drop (such as Visual FoxPro, Visual Basic, the Microsoft Windows Explorer, Word and Excel, and so on).

Programming in Visual FoxPro: Describes how to access the full power of Visual FoxPro by creating applications that incorporate object-oriented programming techniques and the event-driven model to maximize your programming productivity.