Ernest:
Add Foxtools.fll to your project
The following line uses an API call to define a function that allows you to execute an EXE. Control doesn't return until the EXE is finished. I've written a VFP app that is called by a DOS batch file. With judicious creation of disk files, our DOS can determine when the Windows communication program has finished.

declare RunAndWait in Tools String
x = RunAndWait("myprogram.exe")

HTH
Mike