Gerard,

>I did as suggested in the manual (by using oledbadapter on a test form and it tested ok)
>I did however trim out the connection string to mimic what eas in the manual (got rid of pswd= and q whole pile of other stuff
>
>My String is now:-
>
> databases
> add key="DFISR\Connection" value="Provider=vfpoledb.1;DataSource=C:\ISRC\DFISRC.DBC"
> databases
>
>

Try putting a space in "DataSource" like this:

<add key="DFISR\Connection" value="Provider=vfpoledb.1;Data Source=C:\ISRC\DFISRC.DBC" />

You can always test your connection string by copying it from the app.config file and using it in the data adapter on a test form.

Regards,