>hi, all - i am having difficulty compiling a vfp5 project. it runs fine when running the main program from the project manager. when compiled (no errors) the .exe file seems to begin executing, but goes away almost immediately. no doubt i am overlooking something very basic. could someone offer a suggestion?

In all probability, you need to issue a READ EVENTS after launching your main menu and/or modeless form to maintain VFP in a "waiting for UI event" mode.