>Hi gang,
>
>I'm attempting to create an interface which allows a user to select from a list of available back-end database connections. I have a group of UDL files which contain the connection information (this encompasses some non-SQL Server backends as well), and I'm attempting to read these files with the FILETOSTR() function and parse some of the information in order to build the list.
>
>HERE'S THE PROBLEM: When each file comes in using FILETOSTR(), it's high-order-bit garbage (either Unicode or some other unreadable stuff). Each file opens in Notepad without a hitch, and shows the text as expected.
>
>There's no additional parameters on the FILETOSTR function, and I can't seem to locate a way to successfully convert this junk out of Unicode (or whatever it is) and back to ANSI.

It may be unicode - try

hFile="myfilename"
AsciiFileContent=Strconv(Strconv(Filetostr(hFile),6,1029),2,1029)

Instead of 1029 it should probably be 1033 (for Western).