This is a good trick!

>On VFP the new CAST() function it will more become one of the functions used in SQL SELECT.
>
>Sin that the Engine does not recognize the specificity of this function and that the reexecute the CAST for every record, degrading the performances.
>
>A simple example, CAST a C(1) to a C(2):
>

>*********
>
>CLEAR
>SET TALK OFF
>
>CREATE CURSOR myCursor ( f1 C(1))
>
>FOR K=1 TO 100000
>INSERT INTO myCursor VALUES ('a')
>NEXT
>
>FOR K=1 TO 10000000
>NEXT
>
>T1=SECONDS()
>
>SELECT CAST(F1 AS C(2) NULL) F2 INTO CURSOR R1 FROM myCursor
>
>? 'TIME :',SECONDS()-T1
>LIST STRUCTURE
>
>T1=SECONDS()
>
>SELECT CAST(F1 AS C(2) NULL) F2 INTO CURSOR R2 FROM myCursor WHERE .F.;
>UNION ALL ;
>SELECT F1 FROM myCursor
>
>? 'TIME :',SECONDS()-T1
>LIST STRUCTURE
>

>
>The second it is twice more fast.
>
>Fabio