Grady, you're right that cursors/tables in VFP have max 254 fields if you use nulls. However, I can assure you that you can create, index and relate multiple cursors to mimic truly vast arrays. You can have thousands of such cursors at once and you can even relate between different "arrays" of cursors if you need to. Or you can use a smaller number of cursors with an extra column field so you can access multiple columns using self-joins. Either way it can be useful to "browse" your data to get a feel for it and watch for obvious SNAFUs.
Alternatively you could investigate a 3rd-party dbf tool that allows thousands of columns, such as the one used by etecnologia for dbf management in their NET compiler.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
