>>>Are all objects in a form PRIVATE by nature even if their
>>>name is the same as a public object or variable?
>>>
>>>I know all variables in a program or procedure are
>>>private unless they are the same name as a public one.
>>>In that case you need to declare the varible as PRIVATE.
>>>
>>>How do you declare an object in a form as private?
>>>can you declare all objects at once in the form as private?
>>
>>
>>To understand the nature of your question, it is necessary to understand what happens when an object is created. The general syntax of an object is;
>>
>>Public (or Private) NewObjectName
>>NewObjectName = CreateObject("ParentClass")
>>
>>The scope of the object is dependant on whether the object is declared as public or private. I would recommend avoiding public objects that only have function or use within a particular form or method.
>>
>>Public objects are great for error handling, data access, things like that that will be needed throughout the application.
>>
>>Just a thought or two on the subject.
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Jason
>
>What would be the default scope of a form and it's objects contained within?
Andy,
You CCed this to me so want my 2 cents opinion too ?
I don't agree declaration as private would make a form (or another object private).
* Code segment
private myform
myform = createobject("form")
myform.comments = "I'm private. You cannot access to me."
myform.show
return

* After return myform doesn't provide access to form - right
* Form is private - wrong
All made private is "myform" object ref variable not the form object.
Any objects created in a VFP session are members of some container. This means any object created can be accessed from any level provided it still exists.
* Now the form is running and "myform" was private
* A simple call
_screen.setall("New caption","Caption","Form")
would also set "myform".caption.
This at least shows you can access to it.
Let's change caption of *unacessible* "myform" :

for each oForm in _screen.forms
    if oForm.comments = "I'm private. You cannot access to me."
       oForm.caption = "You think so :)"
       exit
    endif
endfor

If you really "blackbox" most of available objects (for simplicity say for those objects that you could get into a container object) use "control" object. A control object is like a container object but prevents access and manipulation of its contained objects at design time + runtime. OTOH it's not as easy to deal with a control object as like a form or container object and you cannot use ie: addobject with it.
Another kind of "privacy" could be obtained by a modal form. At runtime using a modal form + limiting access to menu item (ie: via skipfor) provides a virtual "privacy". And IMHO this one is closer to "private" for variables.
If what you think of is just to prevent accidental of changing values for ie:textbox objects in a form then keep cool, every object in a form are totally different from objects on another form with same name and again same name object. ie : You have a form named customer.scx with txtCustName in it and at designtime you changed the form.name to frmCustomer :

* Launch the form 3 times
do form customer
do form customer
do form customer
activate screen
? frmCustomer.txtCustName.value && error
? _screen.frmCustomer.txtCustName.value && error
? customer.txtCustName.value    && Would print correct - might be just empty for the moment
* Now check where does customer.txtCustName refer
customer.txtCustName.value = "cetin"
customer.refresh  && Only last called form changes
* Because form scx name is "customer.scx" this works with the last activated
* Go and close last activated
customer.txtCustName.value = "cetin"  && Error - customer is not an object
<pre>for ix=1 to _screen.formcount
 _screen.forms(ix).txtCustomer.value = "cetin"+padl(ix,2,"0")
 ? _screen.forms(ix).name    && All prints "txtCustomer"
* But obvious you can't refer them as _screen.txtCustomer
* or just txtCustomer
endfor

They change value separately (each txtCustomer is "private" to its container - form).
This is demonstrated in a better way in home()+"samples\solution\solution.app". Check for "Forms\Run multipl instances of a form".
Cetin