diff --git a/system/database/DB_driver.php b/system/database/DB_driver.php
index a04a65e..12cd391 100644
--- a/system/database/DB_driver.php
+++ b/system/database/DB_driver.php
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@
 		}
 
 		// Now we set the character set and that's all
-		return $this->db_set_charset($this->char_set, $this->dbcollat);
+		return $this->db_set_charset($this->char_set);
 	}
 
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -177,9 +177,9 @@
 	 * @param	string
 	 * @return	bool
 	 */
-	public function db_set_charset($charset, $collation = '')
+	public function db_set_charset($charset)
 	{
-		if (method_exists($this, '_db_set_charset') && ! $this->_db_set_charset($charset, $collation))
+		if (method_exists($this, '_db_set_charset') && ! $this->_db_set_charset($charset))
 		{
 			log_message('error', 'Unable to set database connection charset: '.$charset);
 
diff --git a/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php b/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php
index 7f4a4f2..ba646d2 100644
--- a/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php
+++ b/system/database/drivers/mysql/mysql_driver.php
@@ -144,14 +144,11 @@
 	 * Set client character set
 	 *
 	 * @param	string
-	 * @param	string
 	 * @return	bool
 	 */
-	protected function _db_set_charset($charset, $collation)
+	protected function _db_set_charset($charset)
 	{
-		return function_exists('mysql_set_charset')
-			? @mysql_set_charset($charset, $this->conn_id)
-			: @mysql_query("SET NAMES '".$this->escape_str($charset)."' COLLATE '".$this->escape_str($collation)."'", $this->conn_id);
+		return @mysql_set_charset($charset, $this->conn_id);
 	}
 
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -289,18 +286,7 @@
 	   		return $str;
 	   	}
 
-		if (function_exists('mysql_real_escape_string') && is_resource($this->conn_id))
-		{
-			$str = mysql_real_escape_string($str, $this->conn_id);
-		}
-		elseif (function_exists('mysql_escape_string'))
-		{
-			$str = mysql_escape_string($str);
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			$str = addslashes($str);
-		}
+		$str = is_resource($this->conn_id) ? mysql_real_escape_string($str, $this->conn_id) : addslashes($str);
 
 		// escape LIKE condition wildcards
 		if ($like === TRUE)
diff --git a/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php b/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
index 846ec03..f38b94c 100644
--- a/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
+++ b/system/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php
@@ -144,14 +144,11 @@
 	 * Set client character set
 	 *
 	 * @param	string
-	 * @param	string
 	 * @return	bool
 	 */
-	protected function _db_set_charset($charset, $collation)
+	protected function _db_set_charset($charset)
 	{
-		return function_exists('mysqli_set_charset')
-			? @mysqli_set_charset($this->conn_id, $charset)
-			: @mysqli_query($this->conn_id, "SET NAMES '".$this->escape_str($charset)."' COLLATE '".$this->escape_str($collation)."'");
+		return @mysqli_set_charset($this->conn_id, $charset);
 	}
 
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -289,18 +286,7 @@
 			return $str;
 		}
 
-		if (function_exists('mysqli_real_escape_string') && is_object($this->conn_id))
-		{
-			$str = mysqli_real_escape_string($this->conn_id, $str);
-		}
-		elseif (function_exists('mysql_escape_string'))
-		{
-			$str = mysql_escape_string($str);
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			$str = addslashes($str);
-		}
+		$str = is_object($this->conn_id) ? mysqli_real_escape_string($this->conn_id, $str) : addslashes($str);
 
 		// escape LIKE condition wildcards
 		if ($like === TRUE)
diff --git a/system/helpers/form_helper.php b/system/helpers/form_helper.php
index 4da07f2..37337d9 100644
--- a/system/helpers/form_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/form_helper.php
@@ -314,6 +314,28 @@
 {
 	function form_dropdown($name = '', $options = array(), $selected = array(), $extra = '')
 	{
+    // If name is really an array then we'll call the function again using the array
+    if (is_array($name) && isset($name['name']))
+    {
+      
+      if ( ! isset($name['options'])) 
+      {
+        $name['options'] = array();
+      }
+      
+      if ( ! isset($name['selected'])) 
+      {
+        $name['selected'] = array();
+      }
+      
+      if ( ! isset($name['extra'])) 
+      {
+        $name['extra'] = '';
+      }
+      
+      return form_dropdown($name['name'], $name['options'], $name['selected'], $name['extra']);
+    }
+    
 		if ( ! is_array($selected))
 		{
 			$selected = array($selected);
diff --git a/system/libraries/Form_validation.php b/system/libraries/Form_validation.php
index 4ad31eb..826d94f 100644
--- a/system/libraries/Form_validation.php
+++ b/system/libraries/Form_validation.php
@@ -53,6 +53,18 @@
 	{
 		$this->CI =& get_instance();
 
+		// applies delimiters set in config file.
+		if (isset($rules['error_prefix']))
+		{
+			$this->_error_prefix = $rules['error_prefix'];
+			unset($rules['error_prefix']);
+		}
+		if (isset($rules['error_suffix']))
+		{
+			$this->_error_suffix = $rules['error_suffix'];
+			unset($rules['error_suffix']);
+		}
+		
 		// Validation rules can be stored in a config file.
 		$this->_config_rules = $rules;
 
diff --git a/system/libraries/Table.php b/system/libraries/Table.php
index 8651b9e..99d001c 100644
--- a/system/libraries/Table.php
+++ b/system/libraries/Table.php
@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@
  * @filesource
  */
 
-// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
 /**
  * HTML Table Generating Class
  *
@@ -49,9 +47,21 @@
 	public $empty_cells		= '';
 	public $function		= FALSE;
 
-	public function __construct()
+	/**
+	 * Set the template from the table config file if it exists
+	 *
+	 * @param	array	$config	(default: array())
+	 * @return	void
+	 */
+	public function __construct($config = array())
 	{
-		log_message('debug', "Table Class Initialized");
+		log_message('debug', 'Table Class Initialized');
+
+		// initialize config
+		foreach ($config as $key => $val)
+		{
+			$this->template[$key] = $val;
+		}
 	}
 
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst b/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
index 9428bb7..97549ff 100644
--- a/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
    -  Refactored ``plural()`` and ``singular()`` to avoid double pluralization and support more words.
    -  Added an optional third parameter to ``force_download()`` that enables/disables sending the actual file MIME type in the Content-Type header (disabled by default).
    -  Added a work-around in force_download() for a bug Android <= 2.1, where the filename extension needs to be in uppercase.
+   -  form_dropdown() will now also take an array for unity with other form helpers.
 
 -  Database
 
@@ -67,6 +68,8 @@
    -  Added a constructor to the DB_result class and moved all driver-specific properties and logic out of the base DB_driver class to allow better abstraction.
    -  Removed limit() and order_by() support for UPDATE and DELETE queries in PostgreSQL driver. Postgres does not support those features.
    -  Removed protect_identifiers() and renamed _protect_identifiers() to it instead - it was just an alias.
+   -  MySQL and MySQLi drivers now require at least MySQL version 5.1.
+   -  db_set_charset() now only requires one parameter (collation was only needed due to legacy support for MySQL versions prior to 5.1).
    -  Added support for SQLite3 database driver.
 
 -  Libraries
@@ -87,6 +90,8 @@
    -  Minor speed optimizations and method & property visibility declarations in the Calendar Library.
    -  Removed SHA1 function in the :doc:`Encryption Library <libraries/encryption>`.
    -  Added $config['csrf_regeneration'] to the CSRF protection in the :doc:`Security library <libraries/security>`, which makes token regeneration optional.
+   -  Allowed for setting table class defaults in a config file.
+   -  Form Validation library now allows setting of error delimiters in the config file via $config['error_prefix'] and $config['error_suffix'].
    -  Added function error_array() to return all error messages as an array in the Form_validation class.
    -  Added function set_data() to Form_validation library, which can be used in place of the default $_POST array.
    -  Added function reset_validation() to form validation library, which resets internal validation variables in case of multiple validation routines.
@@ -139,7 +144,7 @@
 -  Fixed a bug in PDO's _version() method where it used to return the client version as opposed to the server one.
 -  Fixed a bug in PDO's insert_id() method where it could've failed if it's used with Postgre versions prior to 8.1.
 -  Fixed a bug in CUBRID's affected_rows() method where a connection resource was passed to cubrid_affected_rows() instead of a result.
--  Fixed a bug (#638) - db_set_charset() ignored its arguments and always used the configured charset and collation instead.
+-  Fixed a bug (#638) - db_set_charset() ignored its arguments and always used the configured charset instead.
 -  Fixed a bug (#413) - Oracle's error handling methods used to only return connection-related errors.
 -  Fixed a bug (#804) - Profiler library was trying to handle objects as strings in some cases, resulting in warnings being issued by htmlspecialchars().
 -  Fixed a bug (#1101) - MySQL/MySQLi result method field_data() was implemented as if it was handling a DESCRIBE result instead of the actual result set.
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/libraries/form_validation.rst b/user_guide_src/source/libraries/form_validation.rst
index 39b389f..5d7368c 100644
--- a/user_guide_src/source/libraries/form_validation.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/libraries/form_validation.rst
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@
 
 By default, the Form Validation class adds a paragraph tag (<p>) around
 each error message shown. You can either change these delimiters
-globally or individually.
+globally, individually, or change the defaults in a config file.
 
 #. **Changing delimiters Globally**
    To globally change the error delimiters, in your controller function,
@@ -543,6 +543,12 @@
 
       <?php echo validation_errors('<div class="error">', '</div>'); ?>
 
+#. **Set delimiters in a config file**
+   You can add your error delimiters in application/config/form_validation.php as follows::
+   
+      $config['error_prefix'] = '<div class="error_prefix">';
+      $config['error_suffix'] = '</div>';
+
 
 Showing Errors Individually
 ===========================
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/libraries/table.rst b/user_guide_src/source/libraries/table.rst
index 9bc3f34..6a808ab 100644
--- a/user_guide_src/source/libraries/table.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/libraries/table.rst
@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@
 	$tmpl = array ( 'table_open'  => '<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" class="mytable">' );
 
 	$this->table->set_template($tmpl);
+	
+You can also set defaults for these in a config file.
 
 ******************
 Function Reference