Jim,
Your solution sounds like what I am looking for but I'm not clear on this. According to VFP help a control object can contain other controls but, unlike container objects, do not allow access to the objects contained within them. Also, control does not show on my list of standard controls. Could you explain a little more? Do I first need to create a control object?

Sorry for my ignorance but it seems I still have much to learn in some areas.
Thanks,
John.

>Create a class based on Control. Set its backstyle to 1 Opaque. Add a checkbox to it and sert its backstyle to 0-transparent. In the GotFocus of the chcekbox put This.Parent.BackColor = RGB(128,128,128) (or whatever back color you want. In the checkbox lostfocus set This.Parent.BackColor = RGB(255,255,255). Now put the control class in the column of the grid and set the grid column to sparse = .F.. Run the form and play with the column with the checkbox in it. I think this is pretty close to what you want.