...

Alternatively, how could I create the text within the doc to actually *say* 'M23'?

You could call manage_edit on D23 and update it with a string of <!--#var M23--> But that string is buried in the middle of many lines of HTML/DTML. As near as I know DTML does not support string replacement directly.

I had thought of building the contents as a "sandwich", pulling everything before the 'M23' from one method, then the string 'M23', then the remainder from another method. But I can't save a method that looks like broken DTML, i.e. that ends with '<!--#var '. -- Craig Allen - Managing Partner - Mutual Alchemy Information Architecture - http://alchemy.nu