>Thanks - this stuff will help - but it seems you're saying - if it the statement is good - then the only way we would know would be if an actual record were inserted into a table.

Actually, Query Analyzer knows how to do that - it can check your statement for syntax, though not exactly for existence of each table and field mentioned. I don't know how it does it, though.

I think you may play with wrapping the statement in Set Noexec On/Off. Haven't tried that. Also, SET SHOWPLAN_TEXT ON/OFF may give you some clue - at least that one returns some cursor with parseable text.