>I need to place as much info at their fingertips as possible and provide navigation so the grid seems best. I tried a grid in a grid with the linkmaster property set to the parent file and a child in the contained grid but got some weird results (all of the contained grid disappearing except the selected cell and record out of range errors when navigating).

Was it with .column.Sparse = .f. ?

>May need to spend more time playing with that. Also placed 20 textboxes in a container and put that in a column which seems to be working but I would like to be able to do some formatting (using backcolor to indicate that more trucks are needed etc) which would be easier with a grid in a grid. Still trying and nice to hear that I am not completly breaking new ground.

Did you see the JFAST application which you can see at MS site in VFP SUccess Stories. You may get some info from the article.
Here is the link to it:

http://www.advisor.com/warticle.nsf/1a831da144f5ff62082565460008b6b4/9d7686e4a07fb9518825663d006419ef?OpenDocument