Well, when VFP exits, any memory variables exit with them. I guess I better re-state my problem.

I was tasked to provide a login front end for an application written mainly in C. (MatLab) In addition I will be furnishing a database and tables which the C program will be accessing via ODBC - our test found this to be really speedy. Now What I want to do is to use the Login front end to do the user validation and then exit, and place a call to the c program, and passing a validation parameter, if possible. Once the C program starts running, there will be no return to the VFP front end.
The RUN /N command doesn't like dealing with parameters. I am fiddling with _shellexecute() at the moment.
The options as I see them are:
1. Set a MSDOS environment variable.
2. Write a temp file with the validation code.
3. Pass a startup parameter to the called executable. (FoxPro is giving an error message here)
4. Rewrite the front end in C++ (not an attractive option for me.)

this is probably really very simple and straight forward, however I have been banging my head against the wall for a week.

that help?