> and which do you suggest....

Like many things it depends on your requirements and it is quite
feasible to use a mixture of the components in the same project.


Personally, I like the native components and I do not use the TIBO*
stuff at all. This is primarily because I use the native controls
TIB_Edit, TIB_Grid etc - and this is where the difference is most
obvious. With the native controls you get...

* Search Mode support - provide a simple, easy to use search
interface for your users. Using the same form/controls that they use
for viewing and editing.

* Color coded dataset state indication - visual feedback to show
the user what is happening.

* Auto focusing of toolbars - configure the form so that the
toolbars automatically apply to the dataset related to the currently
focused control.

* Using the native components and controls puts you a bit closer to
the primary interface, giving some additional flexibility and ease of
access.

* (To plug my own stuff ;-) With the EditEnh and derived controls
get advanced mask processing and various other features.


With the TIBO* components you get the ability to connect to standard
VCL and other third party controls designed with TDataset/TDataSource
interfaces. Depending on your existing toolset this may be important.
The TIBO components still use native dataset internally, so you still
get the advanced performance of IBO, and you still get to be free of
the BDE.


At the moment I only know of two report packages that directly support
native IBO. ReportBuilder and FastReport. If you already have or
prefer a different reporting package then you may want to use TIBO
components for reporting - this would not necessarily prevent you
using native components for your forms (although it can be convenient
to reuse such components).


HTH

Geoff Worboys
Telesis Computing