>Stonefield Database Toolkit (SDT) has a utility called FIXSCX.PRG that can repair corrupted SCX, VCX and PJX files. I have never tried this program (since I haven't yet had the need), but I have highlighted in my manual just in case. The cost is about $300, but this is a very minor feature. It will also repair corrupted tables and indexes. Add user defined properties to the database and make update at client sites very easy. I highly recommend.

Not to disagree with your suggestion at all, but in this case, I have doubts that'll work. If a file's structure is so corrupted that it cannot even be opened in a text editor, the only faint hope is probably a file repairer like Norton. And even then, the only success I've had is with simple text or doc files, where you may lose a chunk of it, but some can be salvaged into a text format that at least can be opened and the good parts copied out...

Of course, a two-step might work - first a Norton-style repair, then SDT on top of that...