>Dear All,
> Previously all my projects involve only single computer application. Now I need to convert one of my project to multi-users. All my works are created by form designer and any tables are included in the dataenvironment. I need to set EXCLUSIVE to .F.. However, as I have the commands - PACK & ZAP in some of the controls I run into problems. Therefore I need to replace ZAP by DELETE ALL and clear the data later on by another separate program. Is there any better way to handle this. Look forward to suggestions. Thanks in advance.
>
>Harry


It all depends on the number of deletes you have (many? few?) and if you plan to ever change the back-end database. If you do not plan to have that flexibility, one way that has been used for years is to reuse the DELETED records. You deleted them and use BLANK to get rid of unwanted old info. Later, when you need a new record you first seek for deleted() (have a tag on Deleted()) and if found, RECALL it then reuse, else INSERT INTO.

Advantages: No need to PACK. Multi-user. Less disk fragmentation.
Disadvantages: File bloat. Lose portability/scalability as the Delete/Blank concept does not wortk in other back-ends like SQL Server.

HTH