Hi chris,

>What do you define as a a static, intelligent PK?

An intelligent key that can not be changed whenever it is entered or when it has child records attached to it.

>In SQL Server 7.0, I have to use triggers to cascade the updates and delete when using declaritive referential integrity. I have not worked with Oracle, but apparently it does not require triggers to do this.

That's not what I meant. Each self-respecting (R)DBMS supports cascading, Restricts, Ingore or nullifies RI rules. How they're implemented is irrelevant: As long as i'm sure that when a PK is changed the RI rules are respected. If both a ORACLE and SQL server implemented the RI rules, it makes no difference for an attached VFP application to which server it's connected.

>And generally, I don't delete data. I will mark it as inactive.

That's very personal and limited behaviour. The majority of applications do delete data.

>>You'll have to setup your database right (and replication), which you should anyway. When done, there is not much different than handling surrogate keys.

>I think this is incorrect, as noted about. Oracle and SQL Server handle the cascades differently, from my understanding.

See answer above, when implemented right, the results are the same.

Walter,