Here is my execution plan:

So, basically, that would cut my UDF calls in half. A good idea.

Yes. Let's say the data is already encoded, due to some recent application changes to how it is inserted into the database.

Now, the value passed into the...

I have now posted the stored procedure and the two functions.

Here is the fnHTMLEncode UDF:

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON

GO

SET ANSI_NULLS ON

GO

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnHTMLEncode]

(

@String varchar(8000)

)

RETURNS varchar(8000)

BEGIN

SET @String = ISNULL(@String, '')

DECLARE @HTMLEncodedString varchar(8000)

SELECT @HTMLEncodedString = ''

SELECT @HTMLEncodedString = @HTMLEncodedString +

...

Here is the fnHTMLDecode UDF:

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON

GO

SET ANSI_NULLS ON

GO

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.fnHTMLDecode

(

@String varchar(8000)

)

RETURNS varchar(8000)

BEGIN

DECLARE @HTMLDecodedString varchar(8000)

SELECT @HTMLDecodedString = ISNULL(@String, '')

DECLARE @ix int, @iy int, @pos...

Here is the stored procedure that validates the student credentials. I will be posting the UDF's shortly, once I clean them up to look nice.

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON

GO

SET ANSI_NULLS...

It's on its way. I'm sorry for the delay but I'm setting up another test or two in the interim.

I mentioned in the question that I am using SQL 2000. Unfortunately, PERSISTED is not available in SQL 2000. It wasn't introduced until 2005+.