Thanks with pointer form you I did the following (table name is passed to function)

1. Used SQL select statments to get existing data and save it to a table with a additional field.
2. Use ZAP command to remove existing data in existing new table
3. Use APPEND command to add existing data with new field to new table

In cases where fields have to set to zero I used the REPLACE command instead of the BLANK command with a FORclause since it need to copies of the orginal data with two values of the new field.

I can post the function if you think that would be useful.