Change to datatype

[billyboy]

I am something of a Progress amateur and need some information. I was hoping one of you guys would be able to help.

I have a table where I need to change a field's datatype from integer to character. In many of the existing records for the table, the current integer field already contains data. If I apply a .df file to modify the datatype of the field to character, will progress automatically perform a conversion on the existing data or would I have to find a way around this?

TIA

 

[tamhas]

No. Your best approach is to add the new field, then run a conversion routine to populate the new field from the old, then to delete the old field and, if necessary, rename the new field to the name of the old.