>Is it possible to connect to and query an Oracle database without going through ODBC? We all know that ODBC tends to slow things down considerably, can it be bypassed?

I don't know that we all know ODBC tends to slow things down. We are in a WAN here that uses a 100 mbps ethernet backbone that supports multiple 16mbps token -ring LANs. The WAN is strung together with T1 lines and Cisco routers. I have developed a VFP app that connect to an Oracle DB in North Carolina (I am in Dallas TX) using the 32bit ODBC drivers I obtained free from MS. This database has over 100 tables many of which have hundreds of thousands of records each, and a few have over a million records.

I submit optimized SQL queries via SQLEXEC() VFP function, and generally get result sets back in 1 to 5 seconds depending on the number of records retrieved. Most of my queries involve multiple table joins as well. It may not be as fast as native VFP tables, but I'll take that kind of performance any day.

I think the biggest key is the MS ODBC drivers. I never recommend the use of the ODBC drivers available from Oracle -- they do not work well with VFP or other MS products. See my article in KB under Articles, Client/Server for URL to MS site for free ODBC drivers.