F

fat client
An application design choice in the client/server computing model now superceded by Windows DNA. Fat clients locate both presentation services and business logic on the client.
fat server
An application design choice in the client/server computing model now superceded by Windows DNA. Fat servers locate both business logic and data services on the server.
filegroup
A named collection of one or more primary and secondary files that forms a single unit of allocation and administration.
firewall
A control system that prevents unauthorized users from gaining access to a local network connected to the Internet.
foreign key
The column or combination of columns whose values match the primary key or unique key in the same or another table. A foreign key is often in a many-to-one relationship with a primary key.
form
(Microsoft Exchange Server) A MAPI object used to display a message of a particular message class in a structured format based on MAPI properties. User interaction with the form is controlled with a form server application.

(HTML) A structured document that contains controls that users can use at run time to enter information, which is then typically sent to the Web server as the form is "submitted."

form library
A form container that supports the installation, administration, replication, and use of form servers. MAPI distinguishes several types of form library, including the application form library, folder form library, and personal form library.
form server
An application that manages a user's interaction with a form, for example responding to menu commands.
FREETEXT
A Transact-SQL predicate used to search columns containing character-based data types for values that match the meaning and not the exact wording of the words in the search condition. When FREETEXT is used, the full-text query engine internally "word-breaks" the freetext_string into a number of search terms and assigns each term a weight, and then finds the matches.
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