Thanks for your reply. Inline functions are not a problem with DLLs since the implementation has to be inside the header files, which means that the source code is available and can be inlined by the compiler, so no problem there. The solution you are proposing is exactly what the macro from my post would do (the macro would just add the benefit that it is transparent to client code because it would provide the semantics of a regular const). But I found it hard to believe that C++ offers no built-in solution. I mean, the standard allows inlining of functions, but it doesn't seem to be able to inline constants. Well, I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and live with it then. Thanks again, Peter