>> I have a program in PG/FB to tabulate results at gymnastic competitions and >> would like to expand it to accept scores directly from the each event >> rather than entering then in later at one station. >> >> I'd appreciate any help. What routines/modules should I be looking at so >> that each computer will send the score to the main computer and it, in >> turn, will accept it? >> >> Does anyone have suggestions for a strategy to do do this? Or small examples? >> >> Thanks in advance >> >> Stu Cram >> Regina, Sask CAN I've done something very similar recently, so here goes. First, you'll have to buy Staz's AppleTalk software. You won't need Apple Events unless you have to pass messages between two programs running concurrently on one machine. Second, work out what information will be gathered externally, and design your message structure. This design work is the key to everything. For example, if you captured data on floor exercises, the ascii message would look something like : @A_R1_12_F_8.6_8.2_8.4_8.1@ Broken down, this would be : message start flag (anything unique) Message type (make up your own structure) delimiter Sending Unit delimiter competitor number delimiter floor exercise identifier delimiter score delimiter score delimiter score delimiter score message end flag You'll need to create as many messages as you need, but think it through and work out every possibility - although you can add messages easily, it's easier to get the design right first. Staz's filter does most things for you, but I would edit it slightly so that you can log on as Server or Client - just duplicate the relevant bits of code and comment out the bits you don't need. (BTW, this is how you create a sculpture of an elephant. Just get a block of granite and hack out all the bits that don't look like an elephant. But I digress.) Then you can log on the central machine as a Server, and wait until all the Clients log on - create a message to tell you when they have. Actually this isn't necessary, you can log on clients on the fly, and log them off when you want - just create messages to tell the Server who's on and who's off. When all the Clients are on, the Server can send out a message saying "go". Then just idle the Server until you get a message in, route the message to be processed by the message type/ sender/ exercise or whatever. Then send a message back to acknowledge the message, and update the database. You can also send out messages to each client giving any information you want, such as overall scores, etc. You could even handle database access in the same way - just receive a query, do the search, and send back a message with the results. That's it, really. Staz's filter does all the hard work for you. Grossly underpriced at $29.50, too. But remember three very important things. Design, Design, and Design. Phil.