Hi John, thanks for your reply, unfortunately the app is in DOS so I can't use SPT - I think I'll have to write a service to run on the server ( we have a spare one we use for things like this ). My first attempt will be: modify the DOS app to create a file whenever it creates a new record and write a FileSystemWatcher to monitor the file creation, then write the SQL record from there - overkill but I can't think of a better way ( but I'm all ears !!! ) thanks again - BTW - have you read The Rum Diaries ?