Thanks for the tips and ideas George. I'll do some testing today with your ideas.

Tracy

>Tracy,
>
>There are some general tips on this.
>
>First, test for the nominal case first. For example, if a = b is usually true then

llresult = (a = b)
>IF llresult THEN
>  * Code here
>ENDIF
>RETURN llresult

is better than

IF NOT (a = b) THEN
>  RETURN .F.
>ELSE
>  * Code here
>ENDIF

This applies to ordering CASE statements as well.
>
>Since this has to do with I/O performance may be affected by how many other applications are running. If it takes long enough, if the screen saver activates that can really slow things down.
>
>In the former case, you might want to prompt the user to shutdown all other apps. In the latter, I've a class in the download section that'll allow you to turn the screen saver off before beginning the procedure, and back on afterwards.
>
>Some general notes follow...
>
>>Other than the progress display, any ideas on how to speed this code up?
>

>
>PARAMETERS lcAl3File
>* Is the below the nominal case?
>IF TYPE('lcAl3File')= "L" .OR. EMPTY(lcAl3File)
>   * no path sent so look for it in temp folder
>   RETURN .F.
>ENDIF
>PRIVATE lcat
>lcat = 0
>lcat = RAT("\", lcAl3File)
>* I'd make 'AL3.NET' a variable, it'll make the
>* program small and referencing the varible is
>* just as fast as the literal. Plus, if you want
>* to ever change the filename, there's only one
>* place you'll have to do it.
>* You could also do this
>* IF (lcA13File == JUSTSTEM(lcA13File)) THEN
>*   lcAL3NewFile = ADDBS(JUSTPATH(lcA13File)) + 'AL3.NEW'
>* ELSE
>*    tdir + 'AL3.NEW'
>* ENDIF
>IF lcat > 0
>  PRIVATE lcAL3NewFile
>  lcAL3NewFile = LEFT(lcAl3File, lcat) + 'AL3.NEW'
>ELSE
>  * no path available so store it in the temporary folder
>  lcAL3NewFile = tdir + 'AL3.NEW'
>ENDIF
>* Again, what's the nominal case?
>m.handle = FOPEN(lcAl3File, 0)
>IF m.handle < 0
>  WAIT WINDOW "Could not open Download file."
>  RETURN
>ELSE
>   m.sizeof = FSEEK(m.handle, 0, 2)
>ENDIF
>m.output = FCREATE(lcAL3NewFile, 0)
>* Nominal case?
>IF m.output < 0
>   WAIT WINDOW "An error ocurred expanding the file. Press anykey..."
>   RETURN
>ENDIF
>
>
>************************
>PROCEDURE Hex2Dec
>************************
>* Convert Hex 00 - FF to decimal 0 - 255
>
>PARAMETER hexvalue2
>* Why not, RETURN EVALUATE('0x' + hexvalue2)?
>RETURN (DECIVALUE(LEFT(hexvalue2,1))*16) + DECIVALUE(RIGHT(hexvalue2,1))