>Nadya,
>
>Thanks.
>
>Yes, I can. I ended up doing this, since it is probably slightly faster than doing the locate with macro substitution. I was hoping to avoid it though, so that the class didn't have to necessarily know what the index order was.
>But, the main thing I found out here is that indeed, when I use eval() that the expression is no longer Rushmore optimizable. (see Sergey's reply)
>
>Lately, I have been trying to use eval() or name expressions in places where previously, out of force of habit, I used macro substitution in the past. But I am finding that it doesn't always work as I expect, and sometimes I end up breaking my code, or, having the opposite effect that I intended. For example in this case, I thought the eval() would execute faster than the &, but it turned out that the opposite was true.

Yes, I know it. In some case, like LOCATE FOR, SCAN FOR, etc. you have to use macro instead of evaluation() to make it execute only once and be Rushmore optimazable.

Also there is a good FAQ here about difference between evaluate(), & and name expression by David Fluker. I would recommend to take a look.