>Barbara,
> No, we are literallt writing to the file, not even using the old 2.x memvar trick.. So, if a user decides he doesn't like what he has entered, he has to change it back.. The thing I am going on about is, that forms I had thought and everywhere else that deals with Data sessions didn't really have to track them and pass them around as part of the process (as parameters for a form, or a report)..
>
>I am have read a few books on developing in VFP, and looked at a framework or two (Am looking to maybe settle on Visual FoxExpress), but it's hard when the database design is so bad, that you can't use the features of the language that you are working in..
>.
>
>Sorry for the ranting, but with the people I work with, it seems like they either don't get it, or they really don't give a damn..
>
>Thanx!
>
>Tony Miller
>Vancouver, Wa

Tony,

After following this thread for awhile, a couple of thoughts occurred to me that I thought might be (indirectly) helpful.

If the data structures are bad in 2.x, then they're going to be equally bad in VFP. The same holds true for the system design. Your boss probably doesn't realize where the real cost of the system is. Since development costs are compressed into that cycle, most manager types assume that design and implementation is the costliest part. They're unaware of all the time you (or someone else) is going to spend in maintenance and modification, which should, in the system's life cycle, be more expensive than the development.

Another point is that you're going to spend a lot of development time trying to "make things fit" because of the poor initial design. You'll also spend more time than you should developing reports and just trying to figure out what's going on. Contrast this with how long it would take if you had done it right from the start. My experience has been that if a system is badly designed, my "putting a band aid" on it is going to take nearly as much time as doing it right from scratch.

It seems to me that the real problem isn't optimizing VFP, but convincing your boss of the benefits (both short and long term) of correcting the system's flaws.

Of course, this is just IMHO. I could be wrong.

George