XL97: Web Query File Is Case Sensitive

ID: Q162025

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

When you run a Web query in Microsoft Excel 97, you may receive the following error message: 

   An unexpected error has occurred
Your only option is to click OK. After you click OK, the Web query stops, and no data is returned to the worksheet.

CAUSE

This error message occurs when the first line of text in the Web query (.iqy) file is not uppercase letters.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, change the first line of text in the query file to uppercase letters. For example, if the contents of the Web query file is the following: 

   Web
   1
   http://webservices.pcquote.com/cgi-bin/exceldow.exe?
change the text to: 

   WEB
   1
   http://webservices.pcquote.com/cgi-bin/exceldow.exe?

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Excel 97.

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Excel 97, Web queries allow you to query data from a specific World Wide Web site, Internet, or intranet site, and return the information directly into a Microsoft Excel worksheet. Microsoft Excel 97 includes some sample Web queries, which are located in the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Queries folder.

To run a Web query, point to Get External Data on the Data menu, and then click Run Web Query. Then, locate and select the .iqy file that contains the query and click Get Data in the Run Query dialog box.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q157482
   TITLE     : XL97: How to Create Web Query (.iqy) Files

REFERENCES

For more information about Web queries, click Contents And Index on the Help menu, click the Index tab in Excel Help, type the following text 

   web, queries
and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Create a Web query" topic.

Additional query words: 97 XL97 

Keywords          : kberrmsg kbtool kbualink97 kbweb
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: October 31, 1998