You should use only one connection. If you set a connection string on a ADOQuery or ADOCommand then the VCL will generate a new hidden connection in the background for the component. Each connection has it's own cache inside of the driver (jet engine) for the access database. If you modify the database through one connection the other connection will not see this change immediatly. It needs about 6 to 10s to write the changes to the *.mdb file. After that the other connection has the opportunity to read the changes. ==> allways use only one connection (TADOConnection)

hbez wrote: but the method does not accept a parameter. You need to write the method that takes the parameter. Or you can create the image as a property that is lazy initialised on a static class, making it load the first time it's accessed, and accessible from your entire project. Christian Graus Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

Thkx for the suggestions, I am indeed wading my way thru a recently purchased 1500-page C# book - while trying to keep up with teaching, examining and marking 200 kids learning Delphi. We have been teaching Delphi at school for some time now (some schools teach Java) and forsee it making way for C#. Questions asked in exams are set so you can answer them in either Delphi or Java. I have set a typical problem - a button to add an object to an ArrayList (Delphi would use a dynamic array, I don't know how Java would handle it), and a button to display the array. Typically, a question would also have buttons to sort and to locate/delete/insert an object. The form design will be given, sometimes even the data. Learners must then make the buttons work. I know global variables defeat the aims of OOP, but I was trying to define the ArrayList as such. So, to some extent, it's not about elegant solutions at this level but rather just getting to grips with the basics. Hannes