Bruce,

>It appears the stupid step I was missing was not hitting the [f*] box to bring up the expression builder.

I'm not sure what you are talking about here. In all of the VFP work I've done in the last few years, I've only used the expression builder once or twice.

>I presume that you would put the VALIDATE clauses in the Validate expression.

You can put code either in the Valid() method of a bound control or use a field level or Row level Valid property of the database container (DBC). I've gotten away from using control level validations, it restricts the user far too much. Using the DBC is a much better alternative.

>Any other mandantory entries for porting existing apps to VFP?

Forget a great deal about the UI you used in FP2.x, there are far better ways of doing things in VFP objects.