An ongoing thread about performance over a LAN and a suggestion to use ODBC prompts this message. I have also read what I can (VFP7 Help) about Web Services and viewed the DEVCON keynote in full and like what I see regarding Web Services.

I was formulating a message specifically regarding Web Services when this ODBC observation came up.

The Question:

Where can I read/learn, for each of Web Services, ODBC (VFP) and OLEDB (VFP):

a) Execution charactersitics like
--- Where it actually runs
--- Whether it uses Rushmore
--- Within a VFP app., are it's buffers or caches separate or shared
--- 'state' considerations
--- Data format conversion requirements (like to/from XML)
--- Other things that are relevant (single-use vs multi-use, MSMQ req'd.?, etc)

b) Performance expectations like
--- overhead per use (call)
--- volume of data over the wire
--- rules of thumb (for deployment adviseability) regarding call frequency, data volume, etc.

I'm confident that I understand 'regular' VFP considerations, thought that I had a handle about ODBC and really like the concept of Web Services best but have NO sense about it at all.

Thanks

Jim Nelson