So with the child records (contacts), I have a key field that links it to the parent table, and a key field to uniquely identify each of the contacts for other reasons. So, which of these two would be the key field in the updates tab of the view designer?

>2. What you describe is exactly what I do for child records in a view. You can actually parameterize directly on the parent view, just make sure the parent view is open before you open the child. If the user moves the record pointer in the parent view just REQUERY() the child view.