>> In other words, so that a new record is created in the keys table if a call is made with the name of a table that is not yet in the table.

Why would you want this? If you or another develop supply the wrong tablename, maybe spelled incorrectly, you would get another row and might not realize the problem that has been introduced.

>Also, what precaution needs to be taken to make sure the search is independent of the case (upper/lower) of the tablename?

If your SQL Server has a case-insensitive sort order, you won't have to do anything. If you have a case-sensitive sort order, you can always rely on UPPER() or LOWER(). The table that you're talking about is probably to small to worry about performance issue caused by the extra function.

-Mike