Don,
Craig's message was short but complete - I couldn't have described it better. However, I'm curious about your question:

When a file is in a multiuser situation and exclusive access is required what is the best way to handle that ?

Aside from maintenance procedures, you should use locking, buffering and other techniques rather than exclusive use of a table. If you need an ad hoc index, for example, use a view or a read/write cursor and index it. During pack/reindex procedures you'll have to have exclusive access. If this is going to be an ongoing problem you may need to make a record of each user when he logs on/off so you know who is active in the program at all times.

Just my $.02 US
Barbara

>Hi All,
>
>
>I'm a little confused about the Data Environment. When is it advisable to use a private data session with
>respective forms ? If the datafiles are sharable as in a multiuser situation, is it better to not put these
>files in the data environment on each form or simply select them within each forms events ? When a file
>is in a multiuser situation and exclusive access is required what is the best way to handle that ?
>
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Don