>>I may have been barking up the wrong tree. I converted the VFP memvar to type DateTime and still get the same error. (Which, again, does not occur in the VFP 6 version of the app running against the same SQL Server database). Here is the relevant info. Ndxfl1 is a remote view against a table by that name in the database. The remote view is populated correctly. The DateTime field is d_ate.
>>
>>The command:
>>
>>

select d_ate=max(d_ate)
>>            from ndxfl1
>>            where ir_table=?nirfile
>>              and ir_type=?nir_type
>>              and d_ate<=?m.mdbegdb2
>>

>
>>Connectivity error: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Line 4: Incorrect syntax near 'd_ate'.
>
>I'm not trying to break Nadya's record... was looking for something else and just noticed this. I think the error came from m-dot in the last line. SQL server never heard of m-dot.

It may not be a record but not bad, replying to a message from 2005. I read your reply and had no memory at all of posting that question.

Doesn't the value of the parameter get substituted before the query gets passed to SQL Server?