We have a large VFP application used by about 50 users. The data is on NT 4.0 servers, and the desktops are all NT 4.0 or Win2000.

Each night, we'd like to shut down to do some reindexing, add fields, or other maintenance chores. It's not a given that we'd want to do this stuff every night, but I'd like to set up a standardized approach that allows exclusive use of the tables between, say, midnight and 3:00AM. Then we can schedule and launch whatever code we'd like to see run each night, knowing that code can get exclusive locks to do what needs to be done.

It's the age-old problem, though: users forget to exit the VFP app and go home at night, leaving a form up with a table open. Most of our forms are pretty careful about this and don't leave tables open needlessly, but there's still a chance that a table could be left open.

So what's the best approach? I'm considering using NT's built-in ability to limit login hours, but I'm not sure whether that will trash a CDX (or worse) if a user's connection is cut when they have a table open. If we do it this way, do we need to always re-create all indexes "just in case"? I've also tried implementing a timer that would exit the app at a specified time, but we ran into some weird behavior with that approach when a modal form is active.

Anybody have an approach to this issue that rocks? I'd love to hear about it.

- Doug