>Using xml (tables/parameters) in sql databases should be your final last ditch choice, they perform woefully badly.
It's ok, no problem. I didn't explain earlier that what's actually happening: A stored proc has to get a variable number of key/value pairs out of a table, then join them in a certain way and put an MD5 hash on them. My colleague said that selecting the pairs and turning them into XML is trivial, so he gives the XML to my managed code function and I do all the messy work and give him back the string. So the XML is not long lived, it's just a way of getting variable numbers of parameters to me. I'm quite happy with the technique. <parameters> <parameter name="Foo" value="Bar"/> <parameter name="Wing" value="Ding"/> : </parameters Greg
