Ok, figured it out. Thanks to everyone for the help basically (after playing around with it for a bit) I found that the following code: def dwName(self,REQUEST=None): "return the AUTHENTICATED_USER string" if REQUEST is None and hasattr(self,'REQUEST'): REQUEST=self.REQEUEST return "%s" % REQUEST['AUTHENTICATED_USER'] works fine when called with teh following DTML: <!--#var "dwName('self',_['REQUEST'])"--> Now -- WHY it has to be this explicite I'm still unclear on. I understand that there's a difference between the dtml engine and the ORB, but what exactly is going on here is unclear. Moreover, MOST of the people I talked with thought that the code should work if called from soemthing like: <!--#var "dwName(REQUEST)"--> or even <!--#var dwName--> However, to get it to work requires the dtml I provided earlier. What I'm wondering is, is this because of somethign local to my machine? If so . . .what? But -- hopefully this will provide an answer to someone else who is having a similar problem. thanks again, all. dave --------------------------------------------- A computer without Microsoft products is like a dog without bricks chained to its head ---------------------------------------------