I have noticed that when I open a table with the code below, it get's reported as not open when I try to access it from a form. Why?

Where is this code located? Is it in the form? Or is it in a .prg that calls the form? If the latter, is the form in a private data session? If so, this is the reason. If the table is opened in a prg (default data session) that calls the form with a private data session, the form cannot "see" the table that was opened by the prg.
--------------
This is interesting. I have looked at the form and there is nothing in the datasession. I designed it that way because a user needs to be able to create his own table for his own investigation process. Many users, each with his own investigation table.

This trouble didn't begin until I changed the way a circle is added to the form's image, a large map. I originally used the draw method to add the circle to the map and a bit of refresh code for re-drawing the previous circles at earlier coordinates. The change was to use 'shapes' to add the circles. Using shapes would allow me to add many more features for the user, such as popup information using tootips etcetera.

So, we can deduce that the file open problem is somehow linked to the code to post a shape. With the shape code in place, each time I test, the form opens the getfile() routine and no matter how many times I open a table, it just keeps asking for another table to open. If I draw circles, everthing works fine.

An Alias will probably solve this problem. I'll give it a try.