>>>Working on app in vfp8 that needs to open 6-10 sql tables at start of app and keep open for use in multiple screens and programs.
>>>What is best to use for this?
>>>Thanks Doug.
>>
>>Depends. Are these lookup [static] tables? Will users be adding, editing and/or deleting data? How many records are in these tables? Do your users really need to bring in ALL the records for all the tables when the app starts? etc., etc....
>
>
>4 tables are static that will have a maint screen for changing of data, does not change offen, rest allow full access. most tables have over 200,000 records. No the users dont need to bring in all the records at one time. Can bring a given person's info from all updated tables one at a time, or a few records at a time.

I would not open any of them at startup. I would retrieve only the records needed when the user opens a particular form. For lookup tables, I always use SPT to populate comboboxes where users can make selections from a standard set of choices. I never allow them to enter a new lookup value from a data entry combo. There is just too much opportunity to corrupt the list of selections with multiple spellings of the same choice, etc.

I have a maintenance form to handle the management of values for my lookup tables. Since the structure of each of my lookup tables is the same, this form is quite generic. I use a CursorAdapter to handle the retrieval and updating of the data.