Wow John! Great response... thank you so much! As you know, I try hard to not be stuck in the fox-only box, and this part of this discussion is very enlightening in that regard.

> If I were faced with this problem and I could use any dev language and I had SQL Server to work with or Oracle, it would be n-tier in nature and in all liklihood, I would use VB. For one reason, if I leave this client with this app, I am compelled to put him in the best situation of being able to find other folks that can add functions or maintain the app.

< sigh > as usual, this is always a really hard argument to beat and I'm smart enough to know better not to touch it. And in my mind, in any scenario other than a client who already has an established fox shop, this particular argument pretty much ends the discussion... but since I was talking theoretically here, let me thank you again for patience and follow thru :D)

> because I would do this in an n-tier fashion and given the requirements, VFP cursor don't serve a demonstrable advantage...
>
>Clearly, you have tried to set up the problem to be one that would "appear" to favor VFP.

yupyup... that's exactly what I was trying to do. See even though I try and keep from getting stuck in the fox-only box, I still think that in certain *specific* situations, VFP's cursor engine and DML are an advantage. Now it seems as if your hardcore "no way, no advantage whatsoever" on this point, is that truly the case John? If not, then gimme your own basic scenario where you would say VFP had an advantage.