CREATE SQL VIEW AS SELECT (INT(999)-INT(999)) as nCol,Ye be a saint, mon! It was the dirty view designer that was causing the trouble. I'd forgotten it had that nasty little side-affect. I'd only recently started using it again so had been used to programmatic views. Anyway, I used your trick of the INT(999)-INT(999) in the View Designer, and that works, too. (Just putting 999-999 was not good enough.)