>In response I have to say that I completely disagree.

Don't you want to change "completely" in "partially"? :)

>While there may not be a way to do exactly what I originally
>wanted, I think #DEFINE and #INCLUDE are excellent features!

They are good and very useful sometimes. I only wanted to say that its better to avoid them when possible and to not over use them. I don't want to generate a long discussion here, but #DEFINE is not recommended even in C/C++. I've read good articles both pro and con. I agree that it's better to avoid them when not needed.

>For starters, the compile time concern is baseless. My apps
>usually compile into APP's or EXE's in only a minute or so,
>and even if it took longer - who cares? Most client have no
>idea what 'Compiling' is and probable would'n't care anyway.

Obviously, the clients don't care because they don't see it. I care about the compile time because it cuts from my development time. And it's not only compile time. Every time you close a form/class that includes files, all the code is parsed for all #DEFINEs and this is very slow.

>Secondly, you would advicate using a public variable in an
>object oriented application?

Yes, if it's a good solution. It depends on the problem. (All rules can be broken when needed.) Being an array, I suggested a public var because object array properties cannot be passed as params to functions (major disadvantage IMHO).

>Third, what if my class was a stand alone custom class that
>needed to retrieve some static info? Would you instantiate
>an object just to get that info?

Why not?

Anyway, you can put your array in a prg and call that prg in the initialization part of your dll(s).

BTW, static means public, so... :)

>Take for example a custom class that I might want to create
>as a DLL. This DLL would not be part of any specific application
>and will need to know a number of subfolders names off a given
>directory. The subfolder names list is static.

Ok. The array in a prg solution works just fine.

>Why not put them into an include file, and include the file in
>the custom class? This would be an excellent example for defining
>an array in an include file.

Mainly because #DEFINE is not appropriate in this case. This directive defines names that are replaced by a specific text. That's all it can do. Or am I wrong?

The array in prg is exactly the same only that it doesn't use #DEFINEs and #INCLUDE.

>Since I might have any number of DLL's that use this same array of
>info, all I need to do is include the header file and I have access
>to the info I need. Much less work than creating an object I dont
>need, and in addition, you then wont have some unrelated object
>compiled into the DLL.

Just call the prg from the Init method. It's the same without the overhead of the #define replacements.

Vlad