>>>>>>>I would make GetShopOrderDetails static and call it with:
>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>dtShopOrder = ERP.GetShopOrderDetails(txtSerialNum.Text);
>>>>>>>

>>>>>>
>>>>>>Why static? Isn't an instance the desired return value?
>>>>>
>>>>>Because you wouldn't need to instantiate ERP in order to call GetShopOrderDetails()
>>>>>
>>>>>This is one object less to create and one object less to garbage collect
>>>>
>>>>Thanks. That famous C trickery? ;-)
>>>
>>>trickery ? Not really, just efficiency
>>
>>Trickery was not the right word. What I meant was an obsession with performance that can make code hard to understand, its meaning unclear.
>>
>>Although C is famous for this (IMO), it is not unique. I remember when VFP first arrived and a lot of people were using Line as the parent class for non-visual classes because it was allegedly the most lightweight. Forget that a line is a GUI element with nothing whatsoever to do with MyWhateverNonVisualClass. Whoever reads or has to maintain the code is somehow supposed to understand that. I. Don't. Like. It. ;-)
>
>I use Relation for the LightWeight class
>
>
>>Some of the old timers here will remember a guy named Jeff Winchell. He was and probably still is a curmudgeon of the first rank. He irritated a lot of people, including me sometimes. But he said one thing that I have not forgotten and that has always guided my coding: "Write boring code." The look-ma-no-hands stuff may shave some cycles but is the trade-off in understanding worth it?
>
>I do not think that this is about "look-ma-no-hands" but rather why add some cycles if you don't have to
>
>I will always remember this ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms973852.aspx )
>
>"I promise I will not ship slow code. Speed is a feature I care about. Every day I will pay attention to the performance of my code. I will regularly and methodically measure its speed and size. I will learn, build, or buy the tools I need to do this. It's my responsibility."
>

Please don't misunderstand me. I have nothing against speed. I just have a bias for maintainability. If it's an instance where the speed difference is dramatic, especially inside a loop, I will compromise my beautiful principles ;-) But even then I comment the daylights out of it.