The bad thing about this is that there a several examples in java programming manuals instructing corruptable young developer minds to do exactly this! And if these guys tell their management that it makes them code faster, they'll be all over it. Add in the fact that some major third party applications have generated dynamic SQL routinely (such as SIEBEL and BEA PORTAL, ironically owned by oracle now), and it's a hard habit to break. Still, for all new or custom code, there's at least a gazillion reasons to avoid it! I will be curious to see if Oracle doesn't quash the practice now that it owns these products. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l