>>>My question is: can these indexes be used for SQL-select? Say, I open the tables with the right indexes (IDX) before running my select statements.
>>Yes they work, you need to create/update/open them manually, but they will work
>>(When I say update I mean reindex before using it, for it might be out of date)
>When I added opening of tables with appropriate IDX before select, it now executes quickly enough (though slowly at the beginning). However, it doesn't seem to correctly filter Styles for some reason.

Actually idx are usually minimally faster if the idx/cdx is housed in dbf-disk as they are smaller. In "single workstation mode" (where you only have to worry about YOUR machine not setups at a few thousand customers) I often use temporay files and indices and setting the index file to a *different* harddisk can substantially speed up queries - especially on dbf's already ordered on the PK. Since the "automatic" benefits of the structural cdx are lost if you define a cdx on another disk, I tend to use idx as I have to set the index file[s] manually anyway.

regards

thomas