Hi Chad,

That worked great!
And your signature just cracked me up. Thanks for the advice and a really good laugh.

Thanks again
Jim


>>I am using the view designer to create a view that parses the sales order number into various parts of a bill of matrerials. When I use the equation builder it forms this equation {fn SUBSTRING(Soitem.fpartno,4,3)}
>>I tried various forms of {fn SUBSTRING(Soitem.fpartno,4,3)} as "Carriage Type" and {fn SUBSTRING(Soitem.fpartno,4,3)}as CT and {fn SUBSTRING(Soitem.fpartno,4,3) as "Carriage Type"} But always get an error.
>
>Jim,
>
>First off, SUBSTRING() isn't a valid VFP function. SUBSTR() is. Secondly, I'm assuming you are using the braces and 'fn' to denote it is a function, right? Well, you don't need that. Thirdly, you won't be able to use field names with spaces (to my knowledge, but I've never tried it either). Try it this way:
>

SUBSTR(Soitem.fpartno, 4, 3) AS CT