Another issue: Changing one variable instantly changes the value of another variable

[SMcNeill]

Uhmmm, unless temp$ is shared (which would be kinda odd) your sub doesn't do anything to the state of the program outside the sub???

It certainly doesn't change Path$, you would need a final line Path$ = Temp$.

As per opening post:  2) Temp$ is DIMed at the start of my program as a SHARED string, so that variable should be available globally.

So let's say there's a point in that program that looks like this:

ClearPath Temp$


Now the SUB uses Path$ as the variable name, but they'll share the same offset.  For all intents and purposes Path$ *IS* Temp$...  When Temp$ = "" a few lines into the sub, Path$ will = "" as well.  <-- This is the glitch we're seeing at work.

Now, with the issue diagnosed, I don't think finding it inside the program will be as simple as looking for a ClearPath Temp$.  From my personal experience, I'd imagine the issue to come from something like:

SUB SetSlashes (Link$)
 DO  UNTIL INSTR(Link$, "/") = 0
     MID$(Link$, INSTR(Link$, "/") = "\"
 LOOP
 ClearPath Link$
END SUB

At this point the program then does a SetSlashes Temp$, so Link$ = Temp$, which calls ClearPath which makes Path$ = Temp$, which leads to the roundabout issue of changing Temp$ changing Path$.

Best advice I can give to avoid this issue:
  **Unless you need a return value via your SUB or FUNCTION parameter, pass to a temp variable and only use it to assign to a different value for the sub's exclusive use.  **

Don't change your original variable, and you'll never have to worry about corruption of data that those changes might cause.