I don't know if this is the correct forum for my question, but I am a
desperate man. I would appreciate any help.

I am working with Delphi 5, and Interbase 6. The application is
executing on a Windows 2000 workstation. I am faced with a critical
problem that I'm hoping someone else has experienced and/or can help
me resolve.

I am executing a query from Delphi/Database Explorer that includes
four tables and a single LEFT JOIN. The result set returns about 15
fields, some numeric fields and some alphanumeric fields. No blob
fields are included in the result set.

The problem is when I execute the query, I get results that aren't
consistent at all. The number of rows returned is consistent, but
the data associated with some of the joined tables is sometimes
correct and sometimes incorrect.

For example:

Sometimes I get an employee number associated with the correct
employee name and sometimes the employee number is associated with a
totally bogus name, but one that is in the database. I can run the
query ten times in a row and get ten different result sets back each
time without changing a single line of the SQL command.

Here are some clues/items of concern:

* The DBA doesn't use any primary keys on the tables. He is of the
belief that primary keys aren't needed. However, he does define
unique alternate indexes on the tables. This is a concern because I
am not sure if the BDE uses primary keys internally to resolve
relations across table joins.

* When the DBA performs an export and restores the database, the
problem seems to go away for a period of time, although I can't
confirm this myself. A user reported this to me.

* Some users have complained that some of the drop down lists within
the application populate with names that are duplicated. When I
check the query, the query is a simple select from one table. Each
name is unique in the database. However, once again, there are no
primary keys on the table - only unique indexes.

* The problem happens on several workstations, Windows 2000 and
Windows 98 so it doesn't seem to be workstation specific.

* The problem happens in both the Delphi application and when I run
the query from Database Explorer.

I am at a total loss. My next step is to create a test database and
apply primary keys. My hunch is that the problems are related to the
lack of primary keys, but I have no scientific proof of that. I have
been working with Delphi and Oracle for about five years and I've
never had this problem. I am new to Interbase on a Unix server.

Does anyone have any suggestions or any information regarding a
solution? I would greatly appreciate any information anyone has.

Thanks.

Dave Bishop
(847) 426-8060