>I hacked the table manually but I'm still hoping somebody will suggest a tool that will let me automate that task.

A .prg which would open the .vcx, locate the record, and do the Replaces? ;)

Actually, the tool came with VFP, it's your class browser. Righctlick your class and select Redefine - and there you can select a new parent class for your class.

The limitation is that if you redefine a combo to become a timer, you're on your own, nobody will hear you scream. Also, you cannot redefine contained objects, for those you need to write a builder (not too hard) which would create a new object based on the old, copy the properties and code and then kill the old object. There are a few little tricks to that (don't touch the .name until you kill the old one!), but nothing earth-shattering.