PRB: Long Field Names Interfere with the Append Command (135758)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows 3.0
This article was previously published under Q135758

SYMPTOMS

If you append records from a version 2.x table onto the end of a version 3.0 table and the version 3.0 table has long field names and is part of a database, Visual FoxPro says the records were added, but they weren't.

CAUSE

The version 3.0 table has long field names. These interfere with the Append operation.

WORKAROUND

The easiest workaround is to rename the long fields to match the field names contained in the version 2.x table; then redo the APPEND FROM operation. When it finishes, rename the fields in the version 3.0 table back to their original names. If you have indexes on your version 3.0 table, Visual FoxPro will object to the name change, so you must also temporarily modify your indexes so that the field names in the indexes match the field names in the table, or delete the indexes.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Code to Demonstrate Behavior

The following code demonstrates this behavior. To resolve this and allow the APPEND FROM command to work, the fields in the Testtab table should be shortened to match the field names in the Testtab2 free table. 
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
* Program: APNDTEST.PRG                                              *
* Purpose: Demonstrates what happens when adding data from a free    *
*          table to a table that has long field names and that is    *
*          part of a database.                                       *
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
CLEAR
CLOSE ALL
CLEAR ALL
CREATE DATABASE testdbc
CREATE TABLE testtab (Cust_First_Name C(15), Cust_Last_Name C(25))
CLOSE DATABASE
CREATE TABLE testtab2 (Cust_First C(15), Cust_Last C(25))
INSERT INTO testtab2 VALUES ("John", "Henry")
INSERT INTO testtab2 VALUES ("Ralph", "Willingham")
INSERT INTO testtab2 VALUES ("George", "Weatherford")
OPEN DATABASE testdbc
USE testtab in 0
APPEND FROM testtab2
BROWSE TITLE "Looking at table TESTTAB - Press ESC to continue!"
WAIT WINDOW "Cleaning up test files."
CLOSE ALL
ERASE testdbc.dbc
ERASE testdbc.dbt
ERASE testtab.dbf
ERASE testtab2.dbf
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:2/15/2000
Keywords:KB135758
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.