Clive,

<< Why does it matter how I cleared the table down? >>

Because it does.  Only OptimizeTable will ensure 100% that the table is in a
given physical order, and DBISAM reads the tables (for the most part) in
physical order when executing SQL statements.

<< Does DELETE somehow make  the primary key invalid until EMTPY is
called?.>>

No.

<< Did you get the sample app I sent. Doesnt that seem strange to you? >>

Yes, and no, it doesn't seem strange.  You're assuming things that simply
cannot be assumed, such as the table will always be read or populated in a
given order physically.  DBISAM re-uses records in the reverse order in
which they are deleted, so your assumption does not hold true.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Ok I will admit defeat, I will have to use OP to code my runsum function.

"Tim Young [Elevate Software]" <timyoung@elevatesoft.com> wrote in message
news:8D6CF357-1564-43AE-BEE3-96FA88EDE4D6@news.elevatesoft.com...
> Clive,
>
> << Why does it matter how I cleared the table down? >>
>
> Because it does.  Only OptimizeTable will ensure 100% that the table is in
> a given physical order, and DBISAM reads the tables (for the most part) in
> physical order when executing SQL statements.
>
> << Does DELETE somehow make  the primary key invalid until EMTPY is
> called?.>>
>
> No.
>
> << Did you get the sample app I sent. Doesnt that seem strange to you? >>
>
> Yes, and no, it doesn't seem strange.  You're assuming things that simply
> cannot be assumed, such as the table will always be read or populated in a
> given order physically.  DBISAM re-uses records in the reverse order in
> which they are deleted, so your assumption does not hold true.
>
> --
> Tim Young
> Elevate Software
> www.elevatesoft.com
>
>