Why can't I browse my table?

You can open a table with a UNC path in it, such as

            USE \\myserver\myshare\path\table

or

            USE \\123.456.123.123\myshare\path\table

or

            USE h:myshare\path\table && where h is mapped to a network drive

or

            USE \\www.myserver.com\table

This will probably take a bit longer than opening a local table.

Many times I like to type ahead.(more about typing ahead here: Relaxen und watchen das blinkenlights. What lights?) After typing in a USE command, I’d type in “Alt-V B” to bring up the View Menu, Browse option, even thought the USE command hasn’t finished opening the table.

Why doesn’t this work all the time?

With no table open, the View menu doesn’t show the BROWSE option. When a table is opened, and the system is idle, VFP will refresh the menus and add the BROWSE option.

When you type ahead, the keystrokes are put in a buffer for later processing. When the remote table is finally open, it will process the keystrokes. However, since there was no idle, the menus haven’t had a chance to refresh.