Suppose I have a nodeEntity that contains a Set of nodeEntity, as well as an "owner" ref of nodeEntity. Simple example: public class nodeEntityBean (extends Entity) { public Set children; public static final children_type=nodeEntity.class; public nodeEntity owner; ... rest of CMP code here } When an instance is created of nodeEntity, when are the "owner" and "children" sets populated? In a complex graph structure, a simple instantiation might involve creating a huge set, because the owner node has its own children and its own owner, all of which might need to be populated, etc. Is there a way to populate these lazily? Or is it already done that way? ----------------------------------------------------------- Joseph B. Ottinger [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://cupid.suninternet.com/~joeo HOMES.COM Developer