Thank you for the reply Lynn. That helps a lot. And in plain language. Speaking of, "a complexity balloon ripe for an ugly explosion" you really have a good ability to turn a phrase. And you sound like either a good systems analyst or an excellent IT manager, rather than a good programmer. I just finished a long letter to the Malaysian Department of Health that deals with Oracle. I wish I'd read this before I pressed the Send button. I sure could have used your phrase.