>I am trying to set the data of my new app to a sub folder of it's directory, say data\

>When I try to refrence that "simple" location in app.config it barfs. If I set the full path it's ok.

OleDb needs full paths in order to connect to the data so you're stuck with this behavior. No workarounds.

What you can do is create a small utility you can have them run (from a shortcut possibly) and automatically set this up, or include it as part of the app's startup or first time configuration *before* you access data.

I do this with just about all of my apps not for data paths, but for any of the first time installation defaults that are specific to the environemnt.

+++ Rick ---