>I have an application where I set _SCREEN=OFF and have my main form as the top level form. When I do this, I lose the status bar and my users can't see if their record is locked or unlocked. Is there a way I can show the status bar without setting _SCREEN=ON or a way I can show the record status without having to add tedious code to each one of my controls to check if the record status has changed?

You can use the Activex Statusbar control in a top-level. Works great, but it'll take some work to get it running. But if you're determined to have a statusbar, it's the only way to go...