>Well, I am not a VB expert but I want to return back the question to you. Isn't it the same with hardcoded, changing the Provider or ODBC driver pinpointing the location of the server, and/or database? In the same way, the DE can also be manipulated programmatically because its properties are exposed. Unlike VFP's DE, VB's DE is an object which can be manipulated on the fly. DE is just a visual representation of ADO Data Control but the same methodology exists, I think.
>

>DE_DBServer1.Connection1.Open = "Something"
>

OK, VFP only has this problem if you access the native VFP tables directly, for which VB has no equivalent. If you use Views in the DE than you can manipulate the connections like this:

DBSETPROP(cName, cType, cProperty, ePropertyValue)
eg:
DBSETPROP("MyConn", "Connection", "ConnectString", "DSN=Home Users")

In VFP you can only access ADO in code (which is the way most developers do it anyway).