> I have 5 machine network with an NT4 file server.
> To reduce the network traffic, I would like to have an always up-to-date
> local list from the product table. This list would contain only the product
> names. (Number of these can be greater than 10000)
You want a local list on each of the 5 machines? I would consider this
carefully, taking into consideration how much information each machine
will be retrieving. You should, in fact, stress-test the setup to
ensure that it is saving a significant amount of time.
IMHO, it'll be more work for you in the long run.
> The problem is (for me), keeping the local list always updated.
Have a timestamp with each record. Determine the average update
frequency for the infomation on the server (every n minutes, every hour,
whatever), and have an application timer that fires a bit more often
than that. This timer could download all of the changed information and
information about the deletes.
Then, once a week or so (depending on the amount of changes), re-load
the entire database on to each machine to ensure that they are current.
/Paul