Some very good info. Thanks very much Bob.

On the SQL 7.0 issue, do you mean that I can have a remote view of a SQL 7.0 table and issue a record lock on the base table?

>>Hi Bob,
>>
>>Can you please expand a little on your semaphore locking scheme idea. One of the things I thought of was like this but one stumbling block was, what if a user had a record flagged as locked and then suffered some sort of computer crash? The flag would still exist?
>
>Yep... it would. You could either implement a timeout feature, or provide a method for an admin person to reset the flag, or delete the sephamore... Also, wouldn't the same user go back into the record to continue what they were doing.
>
>You could also have something at the beginning of your ap startup that deleted all sephamores for that user when they connected.
>
>Of course, another thing you could do is use Record Locking... which is supported in SQL 7.0, but not all other back ends.
>
>Another thing you could do is start a transaction when the user went into edit mode.
>
>But, I think a sephamore table would be the best idea. The possobility of a user crashing after putting a sephamore in the table is small and something you can deal with.
>
>BOb