>>I am simply appending a blank record to the table. VFP will not permit the
>>blank record to be created because (I am assuming) the field with the
>>CANDIDATE TAG is blank when it is initially created. This would mean I would
>>have to remove the CANDIDATE tag from the field, create the new record, and
>>then add the CANDIDATE tag back in???
>No, you just can't APPEND BLANK. You need to use INSERT instead. this way, you
>can define the key value before adding the record.

Well, you can: once. The next time, you have two blank key values, which the candidate index objects to.