There isn't a function you can call in .NET to give you the same functionality as in VFP. That is a difference between a compiled language vs. an interpreted language. There is one option that you can try to incorporate. Rick Strahl has an article about using macro substitution which isn't the same as what you are looking for but might be a good alternative:

http://www.west-wind.com/presentations/DynamicCode/DynamicCode.htm

>I need to rewrite my FoxPro 2.6 project to Windows.Net platform.
>In the existing system I created the following process for correspondence (mass letters to bunch of people or individualized ones). All letters/paragraphs are stored in the Letters.dbf table. Each record contains a paragraph number, text of the letter with macros, list of required by the specific paragraph data that users enter on the fly. Macros can be replaced with the data from our database (address...), user entering (respond by ...) or function results (scholarship...). FoxPro's TextMerge takes care of all my macros. I print labels in FoxPro and create a completed text file which is saved to be printed by MS Word at any time. There are a lot of interactions with the users (parameters for selection of correspondents, list of paragraphs, paragraphs' required entering). Most of entering data are validated against the database.
>I want to keep the Letters table in a new system. It's a table on SQL server now. Should I replace my FoxPro's macros in the text (<<...>>) with anything else? Where and how can I get macro values? What is the best practice of text merges? Can VB.Net/SQL procedures merge the text? Does anybody have an example of merging a text with a function's result?
>
>Thanks in advance
>
>Slava