>>>>>>I think what John was saying makes sense. It looks like my problem could be solved much simpler. I just need to open/use the table under some alias with the word AGAIN. And then close this temporary alias. This way, if the table is opened prior to this procedure it stays open; if it was not opened, it will be closed after. Do you see what I mean?
>>>>>
>>>>>Yes, I think I see. Sure, we can open a table under a new alias with AGAIN clause (as long as it was not already opened exclusive before) and this way we don't have to worry if it was already opened or not since for our purpose we would be using a temp alias.
>>>>
>>>>I think John deserves solution stars.
>>>
>>>Me too to brighten the mood.
>>
>>I find it interesting that if you USE a table with AGAIN even if the table is not open, VFP opens the table and ignores AGAIN. So basically there is no harm in using AGAIN every time.
>
>There was some obscure problem found by my colleague Mike Asherman. If you opened the table exclusive or with noupdate, for example, the second opening of the table doesn't change the status.

Wasn't than fixed in VFP8 or thereabouts?