>Bret,
>
>>That worked, the interesting thing is that .NULL. is returned in child table fields. So I will have to work with that. The other thing I saw was that it was not very fast in relation to a regular not outer join SQL.
>
>You *can* use ISNULL() in the SQL statement if you must force certain fields to a value other than NULL for missing child records. For example with a 6-char field1 in your y table that you want to show "NONE " if null:

SELECT x.field1, ;
>       IIF(ISNULL(y.field1), "NONE  ", y.field1) AS detail ; ....

or select to a table and loop thru to change the values, or handle it in the report writer, or ..... (lots of ways for a Fox to skin a cat)

Since I hate cats I dont mind skinny a few for the purpose of better code and reports.

By the way David I want to let you know that the signature file you sent me to show me the use of DHTML, was turned over to the sixth grade class and they implemented it in their question and answer web experiment (picture questions like what is the capital of a certain state, choice made and funny responses shown for incorrect choices). I want to thank you for your time and the class also wishes to thank you for providing a way to quickly show responses to questions.