>And when you select "All fields", or the default (preferably, I think), "Key and modified fields", VFP will generate a more complicated SQL statement, and that is where your SQL statement can get too long.

Select "All fields" if your business rules depend on values of the unchanged fields. Otherwise changes by others can invalidate business-rule-wise your changes. The timestamp approach is better for this use case IMHO.

Select "Key and modified fields" if your fields are totally independant, and you only have to be catch direct conflicts. The timestamp approach might show you unnecessary/false conflicts, but runs less risk of error 18.

my 0.02 EUR

thomas