Hello Paul,
Thanks for the reply - you must be up early - it's 16:48 GMT here in UK.
I'm afraid that I'm at the stage in life where most folks prefer to do crosswords, but I'm always ready for a challenge and coping with Zigbee and Arduino plus the hardware is fairly demanding starting from zero. I'll take a look at all the things you have suggested and toInt() is a new one on me. I have to glean knowledge from wherever I can and I do make use of all the resources, but now and again you need a little guidance. I definitely WILL have a look at what reference has to say, but this is one old dog trying to learn new tricks.
Thanks again