How about using views on the server on the same table - then you can   
   stick to using "SELECT *" in queries, but you can use different column   
   orders on the same table in different views.  In MS SQL Server,   
   I suppose probably in Oracle as well, you can also INSERT, UPDATE,   
   and DELETE on a view.   
      
   Also, if your elderly ODBC tool is upset by some modern data types,   
   then you could use views so that those columns either don't appear,   
   or are CONVERT-ed to something more digestible.   
      
   For INSERT etc., in such a case, you may be able to define triggers   
   on a view that intercept an action that makes excessively simple   
   assumptions about the nature of a table where you have actually   
   used a view, and, instead, the trigger performs complicated data   
   operations that your client program doesn't need to control directly.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)