>I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. Our organisation would like to use Visual FoxPro as the interface tool for an international sales and marketing project.
>
>We are looking for factual information regarding the use of Visual FoxPro and large projects. In particular:
>Number of users in total, and the number of concurrent users
>The size of the database as a whole and segmentation if any
>Client server support and integration
>Network topology and the distribution/replication methods
>How is the load managed through the network
>What response times would be expected (queries and form loading time)
>How is remote data and off-line views handled
>
>Any information you could bring to my attention would be gratefully received.
>
>Jason Cresswell
>Spirax Sarco

I am using VFP 3 on a major project here that integrates data from local VFP tables on a Novell server (SPX protocol) and data from remote Oracle tables (TCP/IP protocol). The application is run from client workstations in Dallas, TX. The Novell servers are also local. The Oracle database is in North Carolina (we have a WAN/LAN system). I am able to retrieve data from 1-2+ million row Oracle tables (limited number of rows, as needed) at an average retrieval time of less than 3-5 seconds. Our local LANS are 4mbps token rings (uggh) with 100mbps ethernet backbone WANs connected by T1 lines. This is like a funnel -- wide on the outside sucking the data through the small end.

Form loading is very fast because the application is installed on the user's local hard-drive and the VFP database and tables are located on the Novell server. I designed the app to only retrieve data from the Oracle db when asked for and then only retrieve the rows needed (usually less than 100 rows).

We generally do not worry about how much data a VFP table can handle. As long as we have good indexing design and drive space, we get good performance.

We do not use off-line views, so I can not comment about that. But I would not consider anything but VFP for this. We have experimented with Power Builder and Oracle Power Objects, and neither approach the flexibility, speed, ease of developing front apps like VFP.