Thanks Claudio,
In view of the problem, I'm happy to live without the OLD_ part
working and just enjoy the rest. Should the text for the helper
dialog perhaps be altered to remove reference to using the ALT key
for the old_ values?

Cheers,
Steve

--- In IBObjects@y..., "Claudio Valderrama C." <cvalde@u...> wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: s.beames@m... [mailto:s.beames@m...]
> > Sent: Jueves 8 de Febrero de 2001 16:40
> >
> > G'day,
> > when I use the nifty new SQL editor to enter a TIB_Query custom
> > EditSQL statement like:
> > EXECUTE PROCEDURE CHANGE_CAT2(
> > :CATEGORY2.OLD_CAT2,
> > :CATEGORY2.CAT2)
> >
> > I get an error message of "Invalid custom DML column reference:
> > CATEGORY2.OLD_CAT2" when executing my app.
> >
> > If I remove the table name thus:
> > :CATEGORY2.OLD_CAT2, -----> :OLD_CAT2,
> > it appears happy.
> >
> > I've noticed this 'feature' before when following some of the GSG
> > examples. Am I missing something?
> >
> > Using BCB5, 3.6.Ce TEST3, Firebird WI-T0.9.4.41, Win98SE
>
> Steve, I could have solved it, but I needed to force a
Prepare of the
> TIB_Query. If I force this step, I can know whether the SELECT
statement has
> one or more tables involved. If there's only one table, I can avoid
the name
> of the table in front of the field name. The thing revolves around
the idea
> of not forcing a prepare of the underlying TIB_Query for every
editor helper
> dialog.
> However, for guessing OrderingItems there was no other option
than to force
> a prepare and hence know some field properties.
> Don't fiddle with old values of fields in dialect 3. The
generated syntax
> (OLD_"name") is wrong and I agreed with Jason in a syntax after the
initial
> code for the helper dialog was created.
>
> C.