I am not too sure I see any 'new' value here over VFP. In VFP I could create a custom property at the form level (or class) and then in the init() event set the custom property to the control object. Now I would have the same in VFP that you are suggesting here. Additionally, in VFP if I have multiple instances of the same control (for instance on different pages in a pageframe), I could define my custom property to be an array and then assign each object to the array based on the page number (index 1 to page1, index 2 to page2, etc.).

So I am not sure that this would have any benefit over VFP functionality already. Having the full path to the control in the code helps in 'knowing' which control is being referenced. When the control has an alias then it is not as apparent in the code which control is being referenced. So I would think that having the full path to the control is better than an alias type approach.

Just my two cents...