>>>
>>Hi To,
>>
>>What's your path statement look like. FoxPro may be searching it. If you open the database using OPEN DATABASE DBF\APPS.DBC, and the file exists in the DBF\ child directory, it shouldn't fail unless the database doesn't exist. You can then simply open the tables by refering to their aliases.
>>
>>If the problem is occuring in opening the individual tables, You might try using a similar syntax in opening them.
>>
>>hth,
>
>George,
>
>My path is set as 'dbf,prgs, ...', the open database statement is get executed in a method within the main screen. I agreed with what you were saying but it didn't seem to act it that way ....
>
>To.

Actually, this is not a SET PATH issue at all. You are correct in assuming that the database path is being pulled from the form.DE.Cursor.database property. The thing is, you can't change this path at design time, it can only be changed at run time, after the form loads, but before the tables are opened. It dosn't matter which database you open in your startup program, or what your SET PATH is, the paths to these tables must be set in the form properties.
Donald O's code should put you on the right track.