>Len,
>
>>Not so much a solution as a workaround - if macros don't work then don't use them.
>
>I'm sorry, but it is not a workaround. If you or Andrew understood what macro substitution meant in VFP and how spaces in a file path affect things it would be more obvious to you what the error is.
>
>set default to C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player && fails
>set default to "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player" && works
>
>lcpath = "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player"
>
>set default to &lcPath && fails
>set default to (lcPath) && works beautifully because name substitution is the best way to handle this
>
>?curdir()
>
>lcPath = ["C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player"]
>
>set default to &lcPath && works because of the "
>
>?curdir()
>
>>but her theory behind the original problem is as dubious as Andrews.
>
>Her theory is much more sound than the random babblings that have been pondered elsewhere in this thread

One last point, I have been using Foxpro in various guises for quite a few years now & am familiar with the workings of macro substitution & its alternatives.

It's taken a little while to realise what is wrong with Nancy's (& your) argument - macro substitution should always compile - it's at run time that it fails. Now if Nancy & you had tested that, you would see why you are equally as "terribly wrong" as Andrew. The original problem stated that the errors occurred when compiling NOT running.

If Nancy had taken her own advice & tried it, maybe she wouldn't have come down so hard on Andrew.

Please note, I am not trying to say that Andrew was right in what he said - I felt it was wrong (but couldn't justify it on the grounds of how the problem was described & my failing to repeat the described problem). My complaint is with the way in which Nancy dealt with Andrew, considering her proposed solution & reasoning for it, did not (IMO) deal with the actual problem described. I totally agree with much of what has been said both for & against macro substitution, but from the problem as described that didn't (to me) appear to be the problem, as it occurred during compilation not running.

I must admit, Curtis was right to drop the subject & I regret, to some extent, butting in. But as I seem to remember Nancy said to Andrew, that if he took a few minute to test his ideas then he would have realised he was wrong - she should have taken her own advice - looking at the timings of the post - there was less than 5 minute between the original post & Nancy stating that it was probably spaces causing the problem. Maybe a few more minutes & trying to see if she could get a COMPILE error rather than a run time error may have changed her mind & possibly the snotty attitude to Andrew. She may be campaigning against FUD - My view is that whatever you think about a persons views, it doesn't hurt to be polite - the difference between bluntness & rudeness is often that of sender & receiver.