>>Nick,
>>
>>>In your case you may create IDX indexes which will not touch your table format in any way:
>>>
>>>INDEX ON custid TO cistid.idx COMPACT
>>
>>But then he will have to rebuild the index every time he uses the view in case the DOS app has changed something or added records -- or he will have to change the DOS app to maintain that .idx.
>>
>>That's why I recommended the index tag approach to create a structural .CDX that will be auto-maintained without changes to the DOS app (unless of course it is an old-enough version that it doesn't support CDX's).
>
>Hi David,
>
>Yes, you are right. I mentioned IDX since I don't know which Fox version it is, and also if there is no guarantee that the index will be updated with FP DOS app it probably needs to be recreated when this VFP app starts.

Nick / David

I do believe I will be able to use the CDX format and create a TAG in FOX 2.6. Currently there are structural indexes out there for the data files I am trying to access.

Nick, you said there is no guarantee that the FP DOS app will update the index. Won't creating an index tag CUSTID be enough for it to be automatically updated. The DOS APP should not have to be modified, correct?

And by the way, I did some speed testing using VFP indexes, it is INSTANTANEOUS retrieval across my network.

Thank both of you.

Elgin Rogers Jr