>>>Hah - I managed to put that all in the title.
>>>
>>>OK - here's the deal: a lookup table is included in the exe, and I'm writing an utility which would allow the developers to update it while running the exe. Now since it's included in the exe, it's read only. Is there a way to open the original table on disk instead, or will Fox open the included one no matter what I do?
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>>or will Fox open the included one no matter what I do?
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>>:-))
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>I feel stupid, I missed the joke... any help instead, bratko?

VFP always search first in the EXE. So no matter what you'll do the table in EXE will be opened INSTEAD of when you build it in EXE first rename it to something else and use something like:

TRY
  USE MyExternalTable IN 0 ALIAS MyTable
CATCH 
  *** The External Table don't exists
   USE MyInternalTable IN 0 ALIAS MyTable
ENDTRY