FWIW I found the following solution to the strange behavior. I changed the filter in the tables in data enviorment from

field = global variable

to

=(field = global variable)

Question: Does anyone know if this going to be a feature or it really is a bug?

>>The point is that I feel strongly that I should not have to rewrite almost all of the forms in the application.
>You are not alone on this one <g>.
>>I think this is a bug.
>me too...
>>It works up to VFP 8, why the sudden change in behavoir?
>
>Since vfp9 isn't released yet, there is a good chance it will be fixed. If you know somebody in the beta test, you might visit and check on a later build: perhaps it already is fixed. Still, that means no testing with the open beta...
>
>
regards
>
>thomas