>hi fred thanks for your reply,
>
>the space for the field is indeed wider in the report.
>
>if i try using iif(cvl>0,"VL: "+alltrim(str(cvl)),"0") it only gives me ****.
>
>iif(cvl>0,"VL: "+alltrim(str(cvl)),0) gives me only the value of cvl.
>
>i wonder what's wrong here, any more help pls?

I'd suggest making the field on the report rediculously wide temporarily. Then once you can see the entire value, adjust the size accordingly.