Hi Mark,
I've had another look and put this code in my main.prg

***** OPEN MYCFG.TXT CONFIGURATION FILE *****
IF FILE('c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mycfg.txt') THEN
handle=FOPEN("c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mycfg.txt")
STORE FSEEK(handle,0,2) TO fEnd && Move pointer to EOF
FSEEK(handle,0) &&goto BOF
DO WHILE !FEOF(handle) &&do until endoffile
tmpline=FGETS(handle,fEnd) && Store contents
&tmpline
ENDDO
FCLOSE(handle) && Close the file
ELSE
&&raise exception dialog box
CLOSE ALL
CLEAR ALL
QUIT
ENDIF
RELEASE handle, fEnd, tmpline

The mycfg.txt is just a textfile containing a list of my public vars and their searchpath assignments eg.
daytapath='c:\app\dayta'
I basically read each line and use & symbol to declare and assign them.