>>>I have heard that it is not wise to pack a table on a production system, especially when you're dealing with a fairly large table. ( 100,000+ ). Instead you do something like:
>>>
>>>PARAMETERS tcDbc, tcTableName
>>>USE (tcTableName)
>>>COPY TO TEMP DATABASE (tcDbc) FOR NOT DELETED()
>>>RENAME TEMP.DBF TO &tcTableName..DBF
>>>REINDEX
>>>* Or recreate the indexes one by one from a data dictionary
>>>
>>>1. Is the correct syntax.
>>>
>>>2. If its correct, is there a problem in VFP 5, where the copy to only copies the first 10 characters of field names.
>>
>>No problem I've ever had. I see a couple things, though:
>>
>>1) Add WITH CDX to the COPY or you'll lose the indexes
>>2) You'll lose some other DB table properties using your technique, if you have them.
>>3) You can use SET DELE ON instead of the FOR filter.
>>4) the RENAME may be confusing the DBC by putting the new table in a different path, perhaps that's why the 10-char names. Is that possible?
>>5) If something goes wrong with this method at runtime , you can be in hot water :) You might want to COPY TO a backup name also, in case...
>
>I forgot to add, upon relection you need to RENAME TABLE also with that method, and that means a REMOVE TABLE also. So the sequence (at least one I've tried before) goes something like:
>
>SET DATA TO etc
>SET DELE ON
>SELECT old (or USE old in 0)
>COPY TO temp DATA etc WITH CDX
>RENAME temp TO old && for file
>REMOVE TABLE old
>RENAME TABLE temp TO old && for DBC

I've tried this and it chokes when you try to re-open the table. It's looking for the backlink. I'm inclined to agree with Kenneth's assessment now.