>hi all,
>
>i am trying to get a simple MDI/Child form up and running but am stuck at the following -
>
>i have a MDI form and am loading a Child form on top of this MDI form.
>
>on the MDI form i have a "cancel" button which i want to use to close the child form (if any are open). what is the command sequence i need to code into the cancel-click event of the cancel button which is on the MDI form ?
>
>finally, what are the form properties i need to set on the MDI and the Child form ?
>
>sincere thanks in advance.

Is there any reason why you're not using the main VFP window? I would because it means that there's one less object to maintain. Further, in it, I can have a menu option that will close all open forms, if there are any with something like

LOCAL lnlast, lni
lnlast = _SCREEN.Forms.Count
FOR lni = lnlast TO 1 STEP -1
  _SCREEN.Forms(lni).Release
NEXT