diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/CollateralFolder.pm b/lib/WebGUI/CollateralFolder.pm
index 98f83694f..1966a879a 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/CollateralFolder.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/CollateralFolder.pm
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ sub classSettings {
       parentId           => { defaultValue => 0 },
       collateralFolderId => { key          => 1 },
       description        => { quote        => 1 }
-    }
+    },
+    table => 'collateralFolder'
   }  
 }
 
@@ -73,6 +74,4 @@ sub recursiveDelete {
   WebGUI::Collateral->multiDelete(@collateralIds);
 }
 
-sub table     { 'collateralFolder' }
-
 1;
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Page.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Page.pm
index 5f55cf8fc..eaf84de8d 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Page.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Page.pm
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ sub classSettings {
                groupIdEdit  => { defaultValue => 3 },
                hideFromNavigation => { defaultValue => 0 },
           },
-          useDummyRoot => 1
+          useDummyRoot => 1,
+          table => 'page'
      }
 }
 
@@ -236,9 +237,5 @@ sub makeUnique {
         return $url;
 }
 
-#-------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-sub table { 'page' }
-
 1;
 
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Persistent.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Persistent.pm
index b4cceffcf..e805ddfae 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Persistent.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Persistent.pm
@@ -43,17 +43,15 @@ database.
  use WebGUI::Persistent;
  our @ISA = qw(WebGUI::Persistent);
 
- sub table { 'myTable' }
-
-
  sub classSettings { 
       {
            properties => {
                 A => { key => 1 },
                 B => { defaultValue => 5},
                 C => { quote => 1 , defaultValue => "hello world"},
-                D => { }
-           }
+                D => { },
+           },
+           table => 'myTable'
       }
  }
 
@@ -114,6 +112,18 @@ sub classData {
 This class method must be overridden to return a hash reference with one or
 more of the following keys.
 
+ sub classSettings { 
+      {
+           properties => {
+                A => { key => 1 },
+                B => { defaultValue => 5},
+                C => { quote => 1 , defaultValue => "hello world"},
+                D => { },
+           },
+           table => 'myTable'
+      }
+ }
+
 =over
 
 =item properties
@@ -139,6 +149,10 @@ Should be true for fields that need to be quoted in database queries.
 
 =back
 
+=head2 table
+
+This must be set to the name of the table that this class represents.
+
 =back
 
 =cut
@@ -457,13 +471,19 @@ sub set {
 
 =head2 table
 
-This method must be overriden to return the name of the table modeled by this
-class.
+Returns the table name set in classSettings().
 
-=cut
+=cut 
 
 sub table {
-     WebGUI::ErrorHandler::fatalError("table() must be overridden");
+     my ($class) = @_;
+     unless ($class->classData->{table}) {
+          unless ($class->classSettings->{table}) {
+               WebGUI::ErrorHandler::fatalError("table() must be overridden");
+          }
+          $class->classData->{table} = $class->classSettings->{table};
+     }
+     return $class->classData->{table}
 }
 
 1;
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Persistent/Tree.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Persistent/Tree.pm
index d745975c6..7f48dfa57 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Persistent/Tree.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Persistent/Tree.pm
@@ -44,9 +44,6 @@ methods), and from Tree::DAG_Node (to provide tree manipulation methods).
  use WebGUI::Persistent::Tree;
  our @ISA = qw(WebGUI::Persistent::Tree);
 
- sub table { 'myTreeTable' }
-
-
  sub classSettings { 
       {
            properties => {
@@ -55,7 +52,8 @@ methods), and from Tree::DAG_Node (to provide tree manipulation methods).
                 C => { quote => 1 , defaultValue => "hello world"},
                 parentId       => { defaultValue => 0 },
                 sequenceNumber => { defaultValue => 1 }
-           }
+           },
+           table => 'myTreeTable'
       }
  }