Colin,

At this point in the thread it should be pretty clear that the VFP documentation is extremely UNinformative on the matter, leading each of us (*and* those who we've heard speak "definitively") to come to conclusions on our own.

Nancy F. noted how it is *important* it is to really KNOW what you are doing in this area. I would agree, and say that we can only count on what's ACTUALLY documented and push/cajole/pester/etc MS to come up with NUCH BETTER DOCUMENTATION for VFP overall.

Cheers,

Jim N

>>>First of all to the MULTILOCKS question - if this is true I have the same question, however as far as I know, MULTILOCKS has nothing directly to do with buffering at all. If there is a need to lock more than one record at a time then MULTILOCKS must be on. With Table Buffering this need exists, with Row Buffering it doesn't.
>>>
>>
>>My assumption is that buffering is done in an invisible CURSOR. When you edit the field, an implicit lock is placed on the record in the buffer. (CURSOR)
>>
>>When you tableupdate() a lock is place on the record in the actual table (TWO LOCKS NOW EXIST) so that it can be updated.
>>
>>BOb
>
>This is true with Optimistic Buffering. Pessimistic Buffering places the lock on the record in the actual table when edited -- before the tableupdate().