This is a well-known issue, and occurs because VFP has never had real Windows as forms: what we see is simply painted. ActiveX controls always instantiate first. Christof has a great article on it: http://www.foxpert.com/knowlbits_200804.htm (second blog entry).

Hank

>>Hi All,
>>
>>Can anyone think of a reason why the olecalendar control on my form doesnt display when the form initially loads? If I click on the area of the form where the control is it pops up and is fine, but not displaying at the start is a problem.
>>
>>Thanks
>>
>>Jon
>
>Jon,
>
>I have a similar problem with an ActiveX control from www.exontrol.com. It appears to be a problem with VFP9 not reconizing ActiveX controls. It is a real pain if you are using the Anchor property to resize the control. See thread for the workaround I used:
>
>http://www.levelextreme.com/wconnect/wc.dll?2,15,1316879
>
>Here is another similar problem I found:
>https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=321395
>
>I could not find a SP3 wish list or I'd add this problem to it. From the run around I got attempting to get the SP2 Toolbar Bug HotFix (never did) I wonder if MS will ever release an SP3?