The BARs can only have predefine system names or numbers.

DEFINE POPUP clientsele MARGIN RELATIVE SHADOW COLOR SCHEME 4
DEFINE BAR 1 OF clientsele PROMPT "First Prompt"

>>Would help if you posted the code snippet.
>
>This is a large menu so I've just posted the menu definition down to where the error occurs:
>
>the a1 is where i get the variable not found.

>SET SYSMENU TO
>SET SYSMENU AUTOMATIC
>
>DEFINE PAD Client OF _MSYSMENU PROMPT "Client Select" COLOR SCHEME 3 ;
>	KEY ALT+C, ""
>DEFINE PAD iasmain OF _MSYSMENU PROMPT "IAS Main Menu" COLOR SCHEME 3 ;
>	KEY ALT+I, ""
>DEFINE PAD utl OF _MSYSMENU PROMPT "UTL Menu" COLOR SCHEME 3 ;
>	KEY ALT+U, ""
>DEFINE PAD _msm_edit OF _MSYSMENU PROMPT "\<Edit" COLOR SCHEME 3 ;
>	KEY ALT+E, "ALT+E" ;
>	MESSAGE "Edits text or current selection"
>DEFINE PAD exit OF _MSYSMENU PROMPT "E\<xit" COLOR SCHEME 3 ;
>	KEY ALT+X, ""
>ON PAD Client OF _MSYSMENU ACTIVATE POPUP clientsele
>ON PAD iasmain OF _MSYSMENU ACTIVATE POPUP iasmainmen
>ON PAD utl OF _MSYSMENU ACTIVATE POPUP utlmenu
>ON PAD _msm_edit OF _MSYSMENU ACTIVATE POPUP edit
>ON SELECTION PAD exit OF _MSYSMENU exit
>
>DEFINE POPUP clientsele MARGIN RELATIVE SHADOW COLOR SCHEME 4
>DEFINE BAR a1 OF clientsele PROMPT "First Prompt"