I have a simple address book client server application i'm working on.

The application is a manual export from a mission critical application they use to store all adresses and contact information. The clients are read only by requirement as the employees only need to view the addresses not to change them.

Currently I have about 5 clients that use the database 'shared' with localViews (stored in central location) and one db client that is the import master used to import once or twice a week when new clients are added to their other propriatery program. There needs to be a clearing of the current data and then a import from a flat file. Need to do it this way because no keys are exported(to keep track of specific records) and changes to data from propriatary program are often make(so can't just look for new records)

My problem is such. If all readonly clients are closed the import works fine. When a client is open I need a way to either disconnect the client (so i can get exclusive access to table) or notify the person running the import that a client is open and should be shut down. Any other ideas on how to deal with this situation(Remote Views Etc., SQL Passthrough?) would be greatly appriciated. I've also concidered a login table but would perfer to avoid a situation like (computer crashes login not removed false table open errors). I've also concidered deleting records WO packing and re-adding during import, but eventually they will still need to pack the table and I will have to handle the same situation anyways.

Thanks for Your help and "Great Ideas :)
Aaron Thomas
Valley Technology Consultants