G'Day All, We have an app written in MS C++ that uses something from the MFC called serializable files. ie. When writing out a record it doesn't write it as a block but rather writes it field by field. Together with this it writes the version number of the file structure as well (with each field?). What this means is that should the file structure change it does not matter as the versioning tells you what it is when the file is loaded. I don't think I have explained this well, but I don't understand it much. If anyone has any ideas / help / pointers I would be much appreciated. Obviously I would like to be able to do this in Delphi without using the MFC. TIA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --Donovan Donovan J. Edye [www.edye.wattle.id.au] Namadgi Systems, Delphi Developer Web: www.namsys.com.au E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Voice: +61 2 6285-3460 Fax: +61 2 6285-3459 TVisualBasic := Class(None); ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Zealand Delphi Users group - Delphi List - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.delphi.org.nz