>>>The cursor must be read-write, then it's "legal".
>>
>>I must have something wrong. This code fails for me.
>>

>>select * from tip into cursor temp readwrite
>>alter table temp add column sc20 c(10)
>>

>
>Does tip have field with names longer than 10 chars? If yes, you would get the error.

Yes, there are a couple that are longer than 10 chars.