>>>[SNIP]... but the real problem was that even once you USEd another table (there was just a single work area to work with), the internal file handle was not released.
>
>IIRC, dBase II had two areas (A & B).

SELECT A, SELECT B

... AND you had to list all the index files if you wanted them updated during the next write.

As far as interoperabiliy (dBase with WordPerfect), I cracked WordPerfect's macro schema, was able to imbed info inside a dBase created text file, and PEEK and POKE the stack to "RUN" and return. Kind of a DOS OLE:-)

I am surprised that stuff worked as well as it did. I still think about that dancing elephant demo that came with the new DOS 2.0 XTs.