> In a private data-sessioned form with a tables auto-open and auto-close , opimistic buffering data environment, does it hurt if I release the form without doing tablereverting ? Let's say I made some changes in some data-bound controls and I don't want to save the changes.

You need a TableRevert(), otherwise VFP will save the modifications. You can put the TableRevert() in the Destroy() event if you want to be sure to clear the modifications.

>Is row buffering treated differently than table buffering in the above scenario ?

No.

>Another question is in order to force/update the relation in a one-to-many relationship, I need to do "go recno()" on the parent side . This seems to commit to write the current record in a row optimistic buffering table. Is there any way to avoid this but to update the relationship in a row buffering table? Table buffering is used on the child table.

You need a TableUpdate() on the parent and on the child. To be sure that all the transaction get saved, you can include the TableUpdate() inside a BEGIN TRANSACTION...END TRANSACTION. BTW, I allways use table buffering on all tables, it's too easy getting caught moving the record pointer and have VFP save the modification behind your back.

HTH