Limiting result sets from the server

I saw some earlier discussion on this subject. We would also like to limit the number of rows returned to keep users from entering queries that retrieve globs of data. One idea I had was to require that values entered for search required a minimum number of elements. For instance an account number must have 8 digits enetered before you can search on it. This approach would help, but it requires that client programs restrict entries and its basically hokey. We have recently started talking about this topic and would like more input. Any help appreciated! Thanks, Frank Dickinson ======================================================