>>>>>I've looked at Help on ALTER TABLE and I don't see if it requires exclusive access or not.
>>>>
>>>>Yes it is
>>>>
>>>
>>>Is there any other way to change the structure of the existing table?
>>
>>Nope, you are changing the table structure :-) not a value of the field.
>
>Yes, thanks - for a minute I thought there may be way around it. BTW, how can we set (check) for the default value of the field?
ALTER TABLE ALTER COLUMN TheColum [type and size goes here] DEFAULT .....
Check:
AFIELDS(laFields,alias)
lnField = ASCAN(laFields,[FieldName], 1,-1, 1, 1+6)
? laFields[lnField, 9]
Against Stupidity the Gods themselves Contend in Vain - Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
The only thing normal about database guys is their tables.