>it takes a long time before the two messageboxes below
>
>(more than 1 minute)
>
>
>= MESSAGEBOX ("before count")
>
> SELECT CL
> COUNT TO IMP_SELECT
>
> = MESSAGEBOX ("after count")
>
>the table has about 10,000 records
>
>Is the a better way to count records ?

Do you have filters affecting the speed?

The other way would be

select count(*) from MyTable into array laCounts

?laCounts[1]

but this would not respect the changes made to the table if it's in buffered mode nor would it respect current filters.