Stephen,

First the event order thing. OpenFiles does fire before the BeforeOpenTables. This is because the latter fires before the tables are opened, adn the fomrer is the event that opens the tables, so that the OpenTables fires, it then starts to open tables, but before the tables are openned the BeforeOpenTables fires. If the OpenTables doesn't fire, then the BeforeOpenTables will not fire.

The simplest way to handle the specific problem that you are facing is to use the Error event of the form. In there trap the File Is In Use by Another error and give your message and call the form's release to shut it down.