Josh,

I am kinda lurking, but maybe you can answer a ?.

So...I am inside someone elses vfp app. I want to use the
same dbf they have open. I issue
Use Joesfile alias billsfile again

The error is: file is already in use!!! I know that ....
I want another copy of it..

I have been able to the file by determining it's alias,
"selecting:" it and putting it back in shape before my function
returns... But why Can't I open it in my own data session?

thanks
bill
chicago

>The first thing you need to do is to make sure FoxPro creates the cursor as a disk file rather than just a filter on your existing table. You can do this by adding a dummy field like this:
>

>SELECT *, ' ' AS Dummy ;
>  FROM mytable ;
>  WHERE mycondition ;
>  INTO CURSOR mycursor
>

>You don't need to do this when your SELECT involves a join, because a join also forces FoxPro to create a disk file. To make mycursor writeable do this:
>

>USE DBF('mycursor') AGAIN IN 0 ALIAS mycursor2

>mycursor2 is now writeable.
>
>In VFP 5.0 you can put the NOFILTER keyword after the name of your cursor to tell VFP that you want it to create a file.