>Is it true that every form and report with a private data session opens the database container when it fires up? Or is it possible to open the dbc once in program MAIN and let that dbc dictate what tables are available to subsequent forms/reports? I want tables in the default directory to be ignored sometimes.
There are many SET commands scoped to the datasession. One is SET DATABASE TO . The DBC is not opened once for every form with a private DS. You will, however, need to take care of your SETs. I handle this in the LOAD event of my form baseclass.

See VFP help on SET DATASESSION for list of SET commands that scope to each DS.

Mark McCasland
Midlothian, TX USA