Mike,

>Well, Armim its not the sql-pt thing that fixes the problem but encapsulating the field name in brackets.
>For instance, i can just do [5_percent_n] as xxx in my view builder's experession builder and it works fine...

Yes, the brackets are the good thing in the SQL command. But I wasn't sure if views can handle them.

>my question to you is, what operator is the []?
>I found an obscur reference to using them in the help docs:

I got the idea, since SQL-Server and Access allow wrapping names with them, so you can have blanks in the field name (IMO not a good practice - just like putting numbers in front of field names), for example. So I just thought, let's try this and it worked. With SQL-PT you can pass commands in the RDBMS' native syntax, so this makes clear that the brackets can be used in SQL-PT. But don't ask me, what VFP does with the brackets in a view <g>. No idea. I would need to have a look in the SQL-Server profiler to see what gets there.

Glad I could be of help,
Armin