Charlie

I just want to be clear here. I am not opposed to SPs, nor am I saying RVs are always better. I'm only here at all because a certain someone said that VFP's remote data access is "lousy" and I tried to get him to justify that.

My company tends to use SPs against Oracle "for a number of reasons" which is code for "We just do, I can't give you a reasonable argument why."

But if we are developing "general" apps to be sold to lots of clients, we simply cannot afford to lock ourselves in with SPs. Clients can and do have site-licences for a different database which, reasonably enough, they will expect you to use. People who worry about "selling RV" should try selling a few dozen SQL server licenses to an Oracle site license holder or vice versa.

The Cache example that was so damned by a certain other is actually a very good example. I have no particular interest in Cache. I don't know how it works; I don't really want to. However I do know that my RVs that work against SQL server also work against Cache. I know that because a client insisted on Cache and I got the business because I could make it work.

If "SP is the way to go" I would have had to learn or buy expertise in Cache Objects and all the rest. By using RVs I avoid the whole issue.

I suppose another way to avoid the issue is to say "I don't know about it so it doesn't matter and I'm not going to talk to you again" but that's a bit silly IMHO unless we are infallible.

At the least we should agree that nothing is absolute and that sweeping claims of superiority and scorn for dissenters is not a way for anyone to learn anything new.

Lets move to security. I don't accept for one second that RVs are somehow less secure than SPs if they are set up with care. This is doubly true once you move to HTTP connectivity, which will be the norm before we know it.

What about performance. Well, as I said, it feels more and more like "Emperor's clothes" to me or one of those magazine articles comparing a Ferrari X to a Porsche Y to see which is faster, something that is interesting on a notional level but hardly a deciding factor for most of us on what car we should buy next.

If there is good evidence apart from "I did a SP app and boy it was fast" or "one of my clients had huuuuge problems with RV" then please could someone post it. In a way it would be nice if somebody could show that SPs are better.

Regards

JR