Ken

>>
why pass
"Select (a really long field list with 6 joins) where customer code = 'ACME'"
when I can just pass
"SPGetCust, 'ACME'"
<<

If network capacity is constrained, and if the resulting result set is only a few rows as opposed to thousands of rows (in which case the sql request is as nothing), and if your query is indexed, then your question makes very good sense.

In a web app with moderate load and a massive pipe to the data server, it may not matter a jot.

In an environment with sized network packets for whatever reason, whether you use 10 bytes or 800 bytes to send your query may make no difference at all.

It's all circumstantial.

My beef is that at least one person here makes absolute sweeping statements about what is "best" and has nothing to back it up except for sound-bites, slogans and increasingly angry repetition. We can all read books written by SQL Server experts that say SP is faster. I'm sure it is faster "in raw terms" same as a Jumbo Jet is faster than a Ferrari. But that does not mean the Ferrari is "lousy" or that I should immediately go out and buy a Jumbo Jet to get me to work faster in the morning.

My last word (as I have to go and get on a Jumbo jet shortly!): none of us is infallible. And our own business circumstance is a *necessary* part of the equation if our experience is to have value to others. Oh, and there is nothing wrong with being wrong- as the proverbial wise person once said, "if you never make mistakes, you aren't doing anything that matters."

Regards

JR