>>I see the problem with NVL in my testing - I have adressed the wrong target in this test, so NVL works as expected by you and Gregory.
>>
>>But it the it will return a string instead of .NULL. what is wrong again.
>
>I found this solution (for older VFP versions) - haven't tested it too much
>
>

>CREATE CURSOR curTest (i1 I NULL)
>
>INSERT INTO curTest VALUES (.NULL.)
>delete
>INSERT INTO curTest VALUES (1)
>INSERT INTO curTest VALUES (20)
>
>CREATE CURSOR t1 (charF C (11) NULL)
>INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (null)
>
>SELECT IIF(ISNULL(i1),charF,PADR(i1,11)) FROM curTest, t1
>MODIFY STRUCTURE

O.K. - but imagine the impact of such constructs on each and every point where you have to fear something the like (Combobox)

Agnes

I think we can stop here. I see some failures in my initial test, I have a work around and there will be no change to VFP's engine anyway.