Hi JimB:

I'm in agreement here. I never use grids to display parent or primary table data because groupings of master data is usually NA to the user. For example, if a user wants to see the record for John Smith he could probably care less in seeing the listing records for John Slow before and John Smithson after. So the grid is wasted space and a robust query is preferable.

On the other hand, a grid is a superb tool to use when listing children of the current parent. For example, I may want to see John Smith's children listed all in one list.

All in all, though, usage patterns dictate interface. Also, a strong beta cycle where how a user interacts with an application is useful for spotting areas where the user "goes around" a part of the application rather than working with it.

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>For further reading on this subject I suggest "About Face - The Essentials of User Interface Design" by Alan Cooper, publisher IDG Books ISBN: 1-56884-322-4.

Excellent suggestion. I particularly like his description of "Klingon Battlecruiser mode dialogs".....been guilty of that at times :)