thanks that set me on the right path. In addition the front end is pushed to multiple machines and i don't have control over where access.exe (which is msaccess.exe by the way) is. so....
Code:
sub OpenAccessDb(byval pvDb)
dim strAccessPath as string
dim strQuote as string
strQuote = chr(34)
pvDb = strQuote + pvDb + strQuote
strAccessPath = syscmd(acSysCmdAccessDir) & "msaccess.exe"
strAccessPath = strQuote + strAccessPath + strQuote
call Shell(strAccessPath & " " & pvdb, 3)
end sub
probably could have shorted up the lines a bit of course but this works