>>>>I want to specify the location of the temp files, using a configuration file for vfp.But vfp seems to be picky about the syntax, and microsoft help seems not to contain any examples of doing this (grumble, grumble).
>>>>
>>>>The Microsoft help says the syntax is
>>>>TMPFILES drive
>>>>
>>>>is it
>>>>
>>>>TMPFILES c:\temp
>>>>TMPFILES c:\temp\
>>>>TMPFILES 'c:\temp'
>>>>TMPFILES = c:\temp
>>>>TMPFILES = 'c:\temp'
>>>>set TMPFILES c:\temp
>>>
>>>TMPFILES=C:\TEMP
>>>
>>>This must be set in your CONFIG file.
>>>
>>>Caveat: old Fox products (not sure exactly when the transition occurred) would only accept the drive from the TMPFILES statement, and it used whatever the current directory at startup for the drive as its work area. To specify directories, you had to use the other configuration directives (SORTWORK, PROGWORK, EDITWORK) to set the drive and directory.
>>
>>To handle the older Fox products (DOS ?) that didn't support the path, I used to use drive substitution mapping to the folder I wanted the tempfiles to be in:
>>
>>AutoExec.Bat
>>SUBST U: C:\SCRATCH
>>
>>Config.FP
>>TMPFILES=U:\
>
>Not recommended - SUBST in some platforms causes all sorts of strange and wonderful things to happen, AUTOEXEC.BAT can get bypassed (start Win9x in Safe Mode, or hold down both shift keys during the boot process) and can be changed on you in lots of different ways. Since the PROGWORK and SORTWORK entries are the biggest users of swap space, it'd be better just to specify them in CONFIG.FP/CONFIG.FPW where you aren't sure whether or not TMPFILES pays attention to paths. I'd rather add a line or two to the CONFIG than rely on SUBST myself

May be true that it's not the safest method in the world, but it was the only solution that worked for us. Having your root directory fill up to its maximum number of files caused far worse problems than not finding the TMPFILES directory at all. It's all a moot point now, anyways, since a path is now supported in current versions of VFP. Worked great for us in DOS, though.