>>SCATTER NAME would be the fastest way to create such object
>>
>>>Why is it necessary to clone an object is a fair question.
>>>
>>>I am writing a time and attendace app. It seems that the tables required to store the data have a more or less predictable structure, but their detail and totalizing fields will vary greatly because different places have very different rules.
>>>
>>>One way to handle this variety is to create detail tables where each detail or total field with a non zero value gets a record, but I think this would produce an enormous number of disk accesses which I would like to avoid. Another way may be to create objects in a data driven way to hold detail and totals in nicely named properties, and them save the properties in a single memo field in XML form or as a data array. In order to save time in object creation I would like to create a master object and then clone it each time.
>>>
>>>The original question I have is how to best handle the situation with flexibility and speed. Any suggestion will be appreciated.
>>>
>>>TIA,
>>>
>>>Alex
>
>That's a good possibility.
>
>Sergey, Naomi, Ed and Mike,
>
>What do you think of the concept of storing "field values" as properties of an object that is stored in a memo field?
>

I have been trying to stay away from memo fields. VARCHARs instead....