>Rather than attempt to install the VFP7 runtime libraries on hundreds of client machines, we decided to copy the required dll's into the application folder. This should also make upgrading to new runtimes much easier.

Easier than creating an installation? IMO, copying the files opens a can of worms. How do you handle registering the files?

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>VFP6 required 3 dll's to provide basic English language functionality (vfp6t.dll, vfp6r.dll and vfp6renu.dll). Initial testing showed that VFP7 required 4: (vfp7t.dll, vfp7r.dll, vfp7renu.dll and msvcr70.dll).

msvcr70.dll is the VC++ 7.0 runtime. Since VFP 7 is written in VC++ 7, this file is required.

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>That was until we tried to run an application on an NT4 server. The first error was that urlmon.dll was required. Supplying this generated "The ordinal could not be located in dynamic link library shlwapi.dll". Further research suggested that an IE upgrade might resolve the issue, but this is not desirable in a live server environment.

You don't mention which service pack. Also, apparently, you didn't register the required files.

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>At this point I decided to give up and rebuild the application in VFP6, only to discover that VFP7 had mangled the menu definitions in a non backwards compatible way (a fairly unimpressive move, given that all that was added was icon functionality).

And how exactly do you propose this new feature be specified in the menu files?

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>All this is not very impressive for a VFP upgrade that could have got away with calling itself version 6.5. Is someone at Microsoft going to work out that they must start focussing on the tools that professionals need to build and distribute applications?

You're missing some very important and powerful enhancements such as improved COM support.

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>Obviously the majority of VFP7 development time went into Intellisense (but sadly not an easy way of switching it off) and some deeply flawed IDE 'improvements'.

Intellisense is a HUGE issue. It has definately increased my productivity. I suggest you learn how to use it and become more productive too.

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>Pending answers on the above, does any one actually know the bare bones library file distribution to run a VFP7 "hello world" application?

You listed them above.