>

>declare @counter int
>set @counter = 1
>while @counter < 100000
>  begin
>	  insert into Test1 values (@counter, 'Counter ' + convert(varchar(10),@counter))
>	  insert into Test2 values (@counter, @counter, @counter,'Counter' + convert(varchar(10),@counter))
>	  set @counter = @counter +1
>  end
>

>I didn't knew about this behavior of CAST().
>Unfortunately i can't test this in SQL Server 2000, but in SQL Server 2005 using CAST() function raise an error.

Yes, interesting. I was reading help on CAST/CONVERT to find it mentioned somewhere and I didn't see it. Funny we found this problem today working on a different issue. And I'm sorry, I still didn't try your example.

Got busy trying to clear fields in ASP.NET page - could not figure this out on my own so far.