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Q178664: BUG: ? Displays Incorrect Number of Characters to Screen

Article: Q178664
Product(s): Microsoft FoxPro
Version(s): MACINTOSH:3.0b; WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b,5.0,5.0a,6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbHWMAC kbvfp
Last Modified: 11-DEC-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 5.0, 5.0a, 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Macintosh, version 3.0b 
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SYMPTOMS
========

Sending output to the desktop with a question mark (?) or @ SAYS may cause
incorrect output to appear on the screen. If the variable that is being output
is quite long, around 200 characters or greater, the output generated will not
be the same as the length of the variable. The number of characters displayed
should match the number of characters in the variable.

CAUSE
=====

The Visual FoxPro screen font is set to a proportional font. Different
proportional fonts produce different results.

RESOLUTION
==========

Set the Visual FoxPro screen font to a mono-spaced font. Courier New and Foxfont
are two fonts that should produce the correct output.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the
beginning of this article. We are researching this bug and will post new
information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Steps to Reproduce Behavior
---------------------------

Run the following commands in a program or from the Visual FoxPro Command
window:

     _SCREEN.FONTNAME = "Arial"
     _SCREEN.FONTSIZE = 10
     x = REPLICATE('0123456789',25) && Creates a string 250 characters long
     ? LEN(x) && Returns 250
     ? x  && If you count you will get 219

The DISPLAY MEMORY LIKE x command outputs the correct number of characters to the
screen.

Additional query words: kbvfp500 kbvfp600

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Keywords          : kbHWMAC kbvfp 
Technology        : kbHWMAC kbOSMAC kbVFPsearch kbAudDeveloper kbVFP300bMac kbVFP300 kbVFP300b kbVFP500 kbVFP600 kbVFP500a
Version           : MACINTOSH:3.0b; WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b,5.0,5.0a,6.0
Issue type        : kbbug

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