>>Hello,
>>
>>In our VFP applications, when working with DBF tables, we sometimes used RLOCK() to lock a certain record in order to check the state of things, like for example if a user is logged in, we lock the record of the user in a session table, and then can check which records are locked, knowing which users are logged in. (When the user logs out, or if they lost connection with the server or the program crashes, the lock would eventually get released).
>>
>>What is the best way to simulate this functionality in SQL Server?
>>
>>Thanks in advance!
>
>I guess it depends on what you're actually trying to do. If it's how to deal with update conflicts this might help: http://www.jamesbooth.com/conflicts.htm

Yes, it's not so much about update conflicts, but about creating a lock that can be checked in the database if another user is online, or has a certain operation running. You could do that with simply setting a flag in a field somewhere, and resetting the value when the operation has ended, but if the client looses connection that flag would never get reset. A lock would get reset automatically and is the best solution in those cases I believe.