Milt,
This still applies. You could something like this:

lcOnError = ON("ERROR") && save current error handler
llError = .f.
ON ERROR STORE .t. TO llError

USE < YourTable > EXCLUSIVE && attempt to open table

*-- check for error
IF llError
  *-- couldn't open table
ELSE
  *-- table opened successfully
ENDIF
ON ERROR &lcOnError && restore error handler

HTH
>Need a bit of refreshing here on my knowledge. I need to open a table exclusive but first need to determine if I can get exclusive use to that table. Way back I remember we turned off the default on error routine and create another error routine that would return I believe false but this was way back in pre Visual day. So I really not sure if this process will still work and more importantly even if it does I don't seem to have the code. Any help is appreciated. Thanks