Hi Don,

I'll make an attempt at your questions: (see inline)

>Hi All,
>
>I've been trying my hand with ADO Recordsets and Com but I've still got some questions and no doubt a whole bunch of misunderstandings about the subject.
>
>
>When is it adviseable to create a client over server side recordset ?
>

Most of the times you would want client-side simply because of the overhead associated with server-side cursors, but depending on your application you may need a server-side cursor. For example, if you need to be looking at changes/adds/deletes from other users you would open a dynamic cursor (server side).


>In conjunction with Com Components (middle tier or other) will the recordset always be client side ?
>

Almost always I would say. Only a client-side cursor can be disconnected, and you would need to disconnect to send data back to the client in recordset format.

>As for locking implications... do I always use optimistic or would you ever use pessimistic with a server side cursor.
>

I think this one has the same implications as with any other technology, it really depends on your app design. With pessimistic you need a way to tell the users that the data they're trying to access is not available, and with optimistic you need a way to tell the users that the data they're trying to submit has been edited and is conflicting with their changes.

Not very deep in details, but hope it helps.