>If you are proficient in TSQL and SQL Server, you could put this update into a stored procedure and return a value from that procedure to indicate update/no update. Then you would use SQLEXEC from VFP to call that procedure instead of the direct update.
>

The problems is that I am doing updates within a loop -- one record at a time (essentially the only way to get data from VFP back into SQL server programmatically without using bulk insert). So this would require two statements for each recors -- one to create the procedure and a second to execute it.

Seems like the fastest alternative is just to do a single select at the end of loop to retrieve the tuples I've written -- and check to see which have the changes, and which do not.

All of these problems arise because I'm downloading data to VFP working on it and then uploading the changes. It seems when you have data on the client side, all of a sudden you end up communicating with SQL server one record at a time. I guess if you want to do set oriented stuff you have to leave the data on SQL server.