Because... :)

I have changed the lines. They now use the full name (path + filename) instead of the alias. So far, so good. Testing continues. Le's pray. ;)

>I agree with Thierry. Why do you need to do extra work when you can select all the columns you need and create extra column on the fly.
>
>>I have a program that runs in Unattended Mode using SYS(2335). Occasionally (this weekend 5 out of 56 runs) an ERROR 2031 occurs on an ALTER TABLE line, mostly the last one hereunder. Error 2031 is: User-interface operation not allowed at this time.
>>
>>It is my impression that this is a VFP-error. In debugging mode it does not occur and the variable m.lcExportAlias is fine.
>>
>>Can it be that I should use the full table name - DBF() - rather than the alias? Any other suggestion?
>>
>>

*  These are sections, not the whole code.
>>*
>>lcTMPFile  = m.P_TempDir + TempName() + '.DBF'
>>select * from EmpS0 into table "&lcTMPFile."
>>lcExportAlias = alias()
>>
>>use in select( m.lcExportAlias )
>>use ( m.lcTMPFile ) exclusive		&& It is a TABLE, not a cursor!
>>lcExportAlias = alias()
>>
>>alter table ( m.lcExportAlias ) ;
>>	drop mutdate ;
>>	drop muttime ;
>>	drop thesource
>>
>>alter table ( m.lcExportAlias ) alter COLUMN reason C(15)
>>
>>alter table ( m.lcExportAlias );
>>	add EmpName 	C( cnMAXLenForName );
>>	add EmpIndVol 	C( cnMAXLenForIndVol )
>>
>>alter table ( m.lcExportAlias ) alter column empno C(5)