In addition to Sylvain's post, it might be helpful to think of persistent relations as being important to the DBC and buffering is important at the interface or form level. IOW, which buffering you use is really determined by what you are doing for collecting data.

Persistent relations let your RI work, regardless of what your buffering is. It happens when you write changes to the tables. I hope I said that accurately <s>.

>Hi All,
>
>I have been researching which buffer mode to use when setting up persistent relationships. All the text I've read suggest that
>Optimistic record buffering/locking is 'generaly' preferable unless updating multiple rows - like in a grid.
>
>What about when 5 tables - in a DBC -are related. Does this count as multiple rows? Should I use Optimistic/Pessimistic TABLE buffering on all the tables in the relationship, only on the first, and what type buffering on the other tables in the relationship? TIA.
>
>Regards,
>
>Paige