It all boils down to the unidirectional nature of the TIB_Cursor component.

When calling First the only way you can know you have the First record is to
close, open and fetch the first record. If you call Open, then it will just
make sure the dataset was opened (executed).

If you call Open prior to calling First the dataset will be opened, closed
and then opened again.

HTH,
Jason Wharton
CPS - Mesa AZ
http://www.ibobjects.com

-- We may not have it all together --
-- But together we have it all --