Our company is embarking on our first client/server application using Oracle as the backend. I have a few questions about using remote data with VFP:

1) I understand with C/S you want to pre-qualify your data to keep the result set as small as possible. What do you do for controls like listboxes where you can't can pre-qualify and you can't limit your record set? For example, I have a LoadStatus listbox which is currently using rowstat.dbf as the rowsource. If rowstat.dbf has 100 records and VFP is set to fetch 100 records at a time...?

2) What should you do, in general, for cases where you absolutely can not pre-qualify your data? For example, in our current system, we have a Load Tracking form which tracks different shipments. This form is using a grid to show load information. Is this OK since VFP is set to only fetch 100 records at a time?

3) What do you do for search lists? For example, say you have a Client form which allows you to add/delete/modify company clients. If the user knows the name of the client he wants to modify, you can pre-fetch that way. But, what if the user wants to browse through a user search list and select one? Once again, will VFP take care of this since it is only fetching 100 records at a time?

4) Finally, if, as in the above examples, VFP can be set to fetch x records at a time anyway, why would you even need to pre-qualify anything?

Btw, does anyone else have any good/bad experiences with Oracle and VFP?