PRB: APPEND FROM <File> w/FOR Cause Doesn't Behave As Expected

This article was previously published under Q95664

SYMPTOMS

The APPEND FROM <file> command with a FOR clause appears to fail and behave incorrectly under the following conditions:

When SET DELETED is OFF, the APPEND FROM <file> FOR NOT DELETED() command appends all records, including those that have been marked for deletion.
If the field referenced in the FOR clause is not in the current database, the APPEND FROM command appends no records, even if there are fields in the original database that meet the FOR condition.

This behavior occurs because the APPEND FROM command evaluates the criteria after it has been copied from the database.

In the first instance, the deleted attribute is not valid in this state and therefore all deleted records are copied. If SET DELETED is ON, the APPEND FROM command automatically ignores all deleted records.
In the second case, the APPEND FROM command tries to copy all the fields and then delete the fields that do not match the FOR clause. Since the field does not exist in the current database, the condition cannot be met, and the APPEND FROM command fails.