Ah...of course!

Thanks for pointing this out...I've been staring at this code for longer than I want to admit.

I have not tried that, will give it a shot and see if the plan stays updated, thanks.

Final results:

I modified the code so that the sProc with the SELECT TOP 100... is in a separate stored procedure. This removed the issue of a potential problem with a...

This problem still plagues me, but I do have additional info.

The sproc contains 4 different SELECT statements that returns different resultsets of the same data based upon a specified input...

I understand, however the problem is that it is not being recomplied by SQL Server, I am having to do it manually.

Thanks, I will try that next time I experience the issue, however - does not MSSQL normally recompile sProcs as the stats change and dictate? I would imagine the problem is...

Yes, Update Stats is checked for this db.

This is the only sProc that appears to have this issue. I had been under the impression that MSSQL would recompile the sProcs...

I enjoyed the background and can empathize with many of the issues.

As for your question on notifications -

Just sending the url is fine with me. I always click on that...

Thanks for the suggestions.

I had not considered one of the variants Gabor suggested. Always helpful to see new ways to accomplish the task. Since performance is not an issue in...

Your second suggestion with the two tables is a good one I had not considered. I will definitely convert to this as soon as possible (as well as use this...

I am using SQL 2000 and the UDF implementation suggested worked fine.

The output is for reporting.

Thanks for the feedback, I will give those suggestions a shot.

As for the use of an Integer as a bitmask - I am aware this is not conventional in SQL,...

Thank you for the reply.

Since the input data is very limited and the first character is unique, the ASCII allowed for simply checking of upper/lower case.

The problem is in the...

My Thanks for all the great replies.

Any one of which will accomplish my task.

While I am using the RowCount check, the other examples, especially the last one utilzing an index...

Ah, of course - I had not thought of using RowCount.

Thanks!