Bob,

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>Years back I recall doing a test building two keys on a text field. One using ALLT() and the other just the expression.. and comparing the file sizes. I recalled the ALLT() index was smaller. I did do the same thing today and both were the same size which bears out the above!!
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I think ALLTRIM() in an index expression (especially when concatenating) would give unpredictable results, and I wouldn't recommend it even if the index file were smaller.

>I am still looking for the answer to " When a SQL request is made from the client to the server, what is the makup of communications between the two from the beginning to the completion of the request besides the resultant cursor?
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VFP (running by itself on a desktop) is not a client/server solution. Your server in this instance is only acting as file server, *all* VFP processing occurs at the client. This means VFP will pull all records across the wire, if necessary. Proper Rushmore optimization will reduce the data that comes across the wire; turning optimization off is not a good idea, except for diagnostic purposes.

Also, I notice you have TOP 50 in your query. This will not speed up the query, since the entire result set is assembled before applying the limitation.

If you care to mess with it, Les Pinter has an article on his site ("A Foxpro Server", in the Learning Center) that shows how to use a VFP server to do the processing on a server and return a result set in a file.

Also look at www.west-wind.com for thin-client ideas. Of course, there is always SQL Server :)