I've actually used this method in SP's in other areas and you are right it is better, I never thought of using it in the WHERE clause though, I'll keep that one in mind if a situation comes up, good idea.

Thanks
John


>You can achieve the same thing without making multiple trips by including the timestamp in the WHERE clause of the UPDATE or DELETE.
>
>Better would be to use a stored procedure and pass the timestamp as a parameter. The stored procedure can then do the logic has you describe but without making multiple trips across the wire.
>
>-Mike