>On another point, when I asked why they were using byref variables instead of returning everything in a standard XML string, they replied to tell me that this is now the new way to do it in .NET. Ok, I didn't reply to that one. Is that what it really is?<

Well, I probably don't stay on top of everything, but I think returning a standard XML string is still the standard way of doing things. Typically, if we need to have more to return than something serialized to an XML string, and we need a parameter to be returned by reference, it's *still* going to be a string parameter (and XML if it needs to be).

~~Bonnie