>This DataSet can be passed around...
>
>Yes it can... though it seems that few actually use it for that purpose. ;-)

John,

We pass DataSets around (or as an XML string through the Web Service layer, although not as a DiffGram) ... we use GetChanges() to only pass the changed stuff back through the Web Service to the DataAccess, so that only changed rows get updated.

Up until now, we haven't had to worry about using any kind of locking mechanism ... the nature of our application was such that it was good enough that when changes were saved, the last one saved was the winner. <g> Contention wasn't really much of an issue.

Now however, with some new apps we're in the process of developing, we *are* going to have to worry about it. We are planning on implementing semaphore locking, but haven't gotten that far into it yet.

~~Bonnie