>Can VFP handle something on the order of showing a preview image from "any Windows image file"? I was at a client's site today and the owner said a file extension I had not heard of. I asked the "potential" client to send me the file extensions, which he hasn't done yet.


VFP can only handle the specific file formats that GDI+ supports as mentioned in the help file:

Visual FoxPro supports all graphics file formats handled by Graphics Device Interface+ (GDI+).

These include BMP, WMF, DIB,CUR,ANI,ICO etc. etc.

To see the formats, just drop an image control on a form and try to set its PICTURE property. In the File Selection dialog that appears check the extensions available from the combo. These are the ones VFP supports.