>Thanks for all the input on this one, guys. Sorry I haven't got back sooner but the UT's been out of order for me this PM. The filter code appears in a few places on the form and I've got round the problem sort of in this way:
>
>

>lcFilter	= "OPERATOR = " + ALLTRIM( this.Value) + " and " + ;
>	  "END_DATE >= CTOD('" + DTOC( thisform.dStartDate) + "') or EMPTY( END_DATE)"
>

What's type of operator? If it's a number and This is a combo, then just remove the alltrim and replace it with a transform(). If operator is a string, you'd need

lcFilter	= "OPERATOR = [" + ALLTRIM( this.Value) + "] and " + ;
	  "END_DATE >= CTOD('" + DTOC( thisform.dStartDate) + "') or EMPTY( END_DATE)"