>If the aim is to switch backends, drivers or datasources
>this approach (OLEDB to parse SQL and fire off backend
>instance code) is not THAT bad.
>
>It sidesteps the vfp ODBC driver problems and perf is not bad...
>Other option is Advantage ODBC, if Cursoradapter does not fit.
>
>Raw vfp SQL possible and least amount of work,
>but I often work through CA just to be certain
>I am not handling the base table.

I've seen CA written to work with dbfs and be just as flexible at that, and IMO better than relying on ODBC for dbf.

>But if working from Dotnet or through COM
>(Python or other) this cuts down Marshalling.

But then again why not write a VFP COM object to do that? You can't rely on existence of any kind of driver for dbfs from M$. Advantage is probably okay, but now that VFP is already at hand, why not?