>Regarding the programmers opposing changing to a database, I would actually suggest that you implement something like they
>want.

I'll modify this statement a little bit. By "implement something like they want" I meant queries like the one I suggested and allow them to 'sequentially' read through to the end. Don't use composite keys - add a single field primary key populated through a trigger/generator. It is a bad idea to have meaningful data in your primary key. Whether you want to use composite or single field indexes/constraints is of lesser importance, I think, applications built like this will be quite slow anyway and I guess the Cobol programmers either will wonder why or say that Firebird is useless (that's why you should ask if you can build an application as it ought to be built).

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