Leon,
I have a few questions abo8ut what you are proposing.
My background was in non SQL dbms (DataFlex) which supported recnums
which as you pointed out had a number of advantages. However, recnums
also have a significant number of problems. Some features like
replication have significant dificulties. Others such as exporting and
re-loading your data also need special work-arounds.
A solution I have seen in some sql dbms (eg MS SQL Server) is to be able
to choose one index and have the database table sorted by this index.
Then you don't need a separate index for that sort-order. It means that
almost any index can work like a recnum and avoid looking in both the
index and the data. I am trying to remember the name of this feature but
cannot at the moment.
Regards
Dave
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David Warnock
Sundayta Ltd