>Why is it that every time I create a grid and do any limits,switch focus to different tables, or munipulations in any way, the girds either go to just lines (like there are no records), or go completely blank (not even showing grid lines)? How do I make my grids work more reliably?

See Andy Kramek's blog Using a "Safe Select" to preserve your grid at http://weblogs.foxite.com/andykramek/archive/2005/03/19/174.aspx