Hi Jim

When I mentioned white papers I did not mean that they should be separate to the documentation. I think that white paper like information should be included in the documentation so you could read this information to get a fairly detailed picture of the new feature before reading the PEMs etc.

Sometimes the documentation looks like it was written by the programmer who knows exactly all the interactions and assumes it is obvious or who does not have the time to sit back and give a fuller picture.

Regards,
Simon

>>Hi
>>
>>I also think the cursoradapter is a key component and if it proves to be fast and reliable is a great way to link to other database backends. I am using in my development system but have not deployed any apps using it.
>>
>>In general I find the documentation often lacks a white paper type of overview of new features. I would like this type of detail for a cursoradpater with some examples how the class can be implemented. Too often the feature just has a brief intro followed by the PEMs. Thus you have to spend far to much time experimenting to discover how it actually works and what you should not do with it. This problem is increasing and taking in my opinion far too much time.
>>
>
>I fully agree, Simon, though I would say, personally, that integration into the documentation is a far wiser choice than some white papers. I would also add to yours discussion of peculiarities of interaction with other controls/services, like ODBC, SQL Server, OLEDB, etc.
>
>I believe that the situation is further aggravated by many of our 'pros' who have MS' ear on subjects like this.
>I don't know if it's 'I learned without such information and am a better developer for it' or 'there are better things for MS to spend valuable time on (because I've already figured this stuff out)' or some other inclination, but the net result of NOT having the kind of information you name is that everyone SUFFERS.
>The fact of the matter is that MANY MANY people just give up and move on if they experience unnecessary difficulty with something new. I'd bet real money that many possible newbies to VFP gave up after finding that 'it doesn't work like the manual says'. I have met a few of them myself and I could only sympathize with them.
>
>cheers
>
>>Regards,
>>Simon
>>
>>
>>
>SNIP