>I have a form that contains undefined variables as controlsources on the form's controls. If I set the form as modeless, I can see the variables . If the form is modal, the are gone. The controls on the forms were taken from forms that were converted from 2.6 using the functional converter. Should I give up?

It's normal to replace variables with properties. Also one more consideration: in VFP (in opposite to 2.6) there is no necessity to have something behind the control like variable in controlsource. You may just leave the control alone (unbound) and use its Value property when it will come to save a record.