>What field type are you using to store encrypted data? IIRC, the binary data will only processed correctly by CURSORTOXML() if it's stored in blob or Memo/binary.

Figures - looks like its char(60).....

I think I'm going to be ok though - all I needed was the record counts and this was a one-time type of thing (porting some data over to a new .net system). I found some shareware that seemed to read the XML file just fine - heck it'd even convert to .dbf if I wanted - and IT seems to work just fine.
It's this gizmo: http://www.xml-converter.com/

Anyway panic-session over...geeeze - is it Friday yet?