Thanks for your response. I can compare the integer value of course but the string is there and makes it more readable so thats what I used. I am interested in why you are so insistent with your capitalised never? I don’t see why it should really be a problem. A bit more processor time but what else? Surely there are cases where you may want the user to type text in and then string comparisons and parsing are unavoidable? Entering a username or password for example off the top of my head?