>>Is building such a set of custom parent classes necessary, or is there some VFP functionality that gives me the same flexibility?
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>To answer one small part of your question. Yes build your own base classes. You can then transform the existing controls into what works for the solutions you are trying to provide. You can even create custom controls. Creating a set of base classes will be your first step in creating a framework.

Thanks. This is the key element of my long-winded question anyway. I just wanted to be sure there wasn't any easier way to inject my own functionality at a high enough level such that it could be inherited by VFP's canned classes and objects I've already created that are based on them.