> When the control has an alias then it is not as apparent in the code which control is being referenced.

The Visual FreePro IDE is different than the Visual FoxPro IDE. For example, it highlights controls, allows right-click -- Goto... options to navigate directly to various items. It also has additional windows which "hang" nearby, such as a "Controls Window" which lets you see the target control of the operation, including viewing and modifying its properties, method code, doing regular editing on that object, as they are encountered in context from the current source code line. And much more. These are all in the designed phase right now (not yet coded), so it's just talk. But, in time (James 4:15) it will be born.


> So I would think that having the full path to the control is better than an alias type approach.

Visual FreePro's design supports both. In Visual FoxPro I can see the benefit of having the full path to the control. In Visual FreePro that benefit is diminished because Visual FreePro provides user aids to help in identifying the source of various operations that are known at design-time. This is similar in function to the way Excel highlights cells when you type them in a formula. You can see through highlighting which cells are included in the calculation, for example. In Visual FreePro it is done similarly, but with controls and classes.