Hi Bonnie,

>I've pretty much adopted the same method as you (opening tables in the LOAD) and for pretty much the same reason ... paths. You're right, it sure seems easier and it works fine. Can anyone tell us what's wrong with doing it this way?
>
>Bonnie

There is nothing wrong with this approach. The whole concept of dropping the DE came back when Codebook 3.0 was introduced for VFP 3.0. The framework used form classes, and a non-visual DE coded in a .PRG file...essentially a list of USE and SET RELATION statements accessed by the form class load event. It was noticed by many people that this approach seemed to load and display forms much faster than the standard form and visual DE combination.

Since 3.0, VFP has improved performance in many ways. I'm not sure if the old load time conparisons hold true, but there is nothing wrong with dropping the DE all together and using the form class load event to set up your tables...so long as you have the appropriate methods to close them when you are done. This is what we do in our internal VFP development framework.


Phil