>>>>If the old system would continue to use them then you already would access via a view, no? There is a dbc IOW.
>>>>Cetin
>>>
>>>Sorry, Cetin, I don't follow you. I don't access the tables as views - just as tables. Non-dbc tables don't support views do they, or am I missing something here.
>>>
>>>Whatever, how can I use xactions?
>>
>>What I'm saying is simple. Create a dbc and views for tables.
>>Cetin
>
>But if I create a dbc and add these tables to it, won't they then be "tainted" with VFP7 properties, such that the FPD26 appplication will no longer recognise them (being of their future)?
>
>Also, because of the legacy of the way the old system works, there's a different folder for each of a series of transport authorities. Each set of tables would have to be assigned to its own dbc, i.e. a new dbc created and populated. Then, there's the problem that certain tables, for certain authorities, do not have the same structure as others, e.g. a key code may be c(2) for one and c(4) for another.

I'm not sure if you're getting it clear from what Cetin is saying. You can have a dbc with views only, and the underlying tables for those views can be your free tables.

The trouble may be in the update criteria - if your free tables don't have proper PKs, you may have to update them using updated or updatable fields, which is a lot heavier in terms of the WHERE clause in the update statement (generated behind the scenes).

And then if you're using views, you should be able to wrap your processing in a transaction.