I have found it very difficult to create classes in VFP 5.0.

My first difficulty is using protected methods and properties. I find myself unable to access these functions and properties from instantiations of the class. Is this correct behavior? Is this reaasonable behavior? I often find myself declaring properties and methods public, even when they should not be.

My second difficulty concerns using an array in a class. In my case, this array is a hash table to the data in the ComboBox. Since there may be multiple instances of the class, and since the hash table is specific to the particular instance, the class should contain the array. What is an elegant way of hiding an array inside a class such that each instance of the class has its own distinct instance of the array.


This is my first day in Universal Thread and I am still learning how to better navigate my way. Please forgive me if these questions are already answered in some area that I have not yet found.