Fred, Nope this doesn't work for me.

Well, took a 1 hour drive to the customer and brought back a copy of the full database, tables & all on a CDR. (they sent them to me b4 in a zip file by email, looks like this created a ton of red herrings!)

Removed all the tables from the dataenviroments of the forms that weren't working & re-added them. Now it works fine?

I'm left with several questions:-

1) Why when sent via email were the files so messed up? (No matter)

2) What had happened to the de in my forms? especially since the de itself is obviously okay, if this can happen, how can my application react accordingly? IE at least give a more appropriate error message, and advise the user to contact IT dept. or whatever?

If i'm honest, i've never been a real fan of the DE, but I am trying to embrace the newer technology and use the newer features VFP has to offer, but the DE seems to be such a pain.

Many thanks for your help anyway, and i'd be interested by your thoughts.