In Delphi, is TDataSet thread safe?

Question

I\'d like to be able to open a TDataSet asynchronously in its own thread so that the main VCL thread can continue until that\'s done, and then have the main VCL thread read

Answer 1

Provided you only want to use the dataset in its own thread, you can just use synchronize to communicate with the main thread for any VCL/UI update, like with any other component.
Or, better, you can implement communication between the mainthread and worker threads with your own messaging system.

check Hallvard's solution for threading here:
http://hallvards.blogspot.com/2008/03/tdm6-knitting-your-own-threads.html

or this other one:
http://dn.codegear.com/article/22411

for some explanation on synchronize and its inefficiencies:
http://www.eonclash.com/Tutorials/Multithreading/MartinHarvey1.1/Ch3.html