>I have the same problem as the original writer in that I dislike C and know very little about Win32API. It is evident that I need to learn MUCH more about this area if I am to exploit FoxPro to full advantage.

Basically, you need to have some knowledge on C, Pascal or any other "true" programming language. I mean some knoledge on pointers, parameter transmission and, of course, to try to understand what's happening when you call an Win32 API function. Also needed: some knowledge on what's inside Windows. For this item, you can look in bookstores for something like "Programming in Windows 3.1/95/NT" (this is not a real title, but rather an idea of what you can look for). I know I saw 2 or 3 good books on it.

For C language, give a try to "The C Programming Language" by B.W. Kernighan & D.M. Ritchie. It's a wonderful book, short, clear and precise, no bla-bla-bla. You'll never hate C after that.

I consider it the bible for any programmer, whatever language, etc. I just love it.

>Overall I find the VFP documentation to be extremely POOR, but in areas like this it is virtually non-existent. What little there is makes the VERY LARGE ASSUMPTION that the reader has some idea of what is being talked about.

That's true.

>Perhaps I should be ashamed to admit it, but I simply do not understand what a DECLARE is [you state 'just DECLARE what you want...'] and what a "structure" has to do with things [ you state 'you can get the basic help for sending structures...'].

DECLARE is a FoxPro command that allows to declare Win32API functions in FoxPro, making them available to Fox programs this way. In FoxPro (and any other languages), you must declare what functions and from what DLLs you want to use. Otherwise, the program doesn't know where to look for those functions. Since all Win API functions are in Winndows' DLLs...

>If a "MS Certified FoxPro Developer" can have this problem, the it seems to me to be a question of either MS feeling this is so basic that everyone would just know it OR feeling that it irrelevant to FoxPro exploitation. Niether appears correct to me.

You can develop very large FoxPro apps without any need to touch Win API. Since Win API is not FoxPro, it's not supposed that any FoxPro developer (certified or not) knows it. BTW, my opinion is that it's impossible to know everything about FoxPro in our days. That was possible 5-6 years ago. It's not "available" anymore. You'll always have someyhing to "break" your head with.

If you'll heard somebody saying he knows everything about FoxPro...

>Thanks (and maybe someone can figure out how to beat this problem (of extremely poor documentation for FoxPro) once and for all.)

There are a lot of good books on FoxPro programming in bookstores. Maybe it will take you 3-4 hours to choose the right one for you (it's difficult to recomend something, since only you know what you know and what you don't know). But FoxPro it's well represented in "third-party" docs. For all levels.

And don't forget: you can ask here anything you want. Usually you'll have a good answer to any clear question you have. More difficult to have answers to fuzzy questions like "I don't know anything about..." since it's a lot to write and almost nobody has this time. You know, if somebody has the time to write a book and knows how to do it, probably he/she'll do it.

HTH,
Vlad