[fpc-pascal] Threaded file access contention - Windows

[afpTeam]

Hi,

I'm writing a console Client/Server that will run on Win98 through XP using 
thread managed Lnet in objfpc mode .  It has a couple of ASCII text files 
that it writes to internally and reads from depending upon external client 
requests.

The client requests are callback based from the arrival of data at the 
socket, so I'm concerned if incoming client file read requests from a socket 
operation on one thread could run into file writes the server is in the 
process of making on the same file, in another thread.

Is there a particular text or file I/O approach in FP, that is better suited 
than others, such as opening for shared mode access, or using the Windows 
API based calls, or typed text, etc?  Or is an AssignFile process with 
catch/try error management generally considered the best way to test and 
delay if file access contention occurs?

The multi-client reads have a higher priority, so would "CriticalSection" be 
the best route to manage this?

Thanks in advance

Mike