Hello

I have been trapped today by a behaviour of VFP: it showed me that even if I think I know well enough VFP, I still can ignore some basics:

Take this code:

DEFINE CLASS clsTest AS line

	Name = "clsTest"

	PROCEDURE Init
		This.Test1()
	ENDPROC

	PROCEDURE test1
		* Create llSuccess, local by default:
		llSuccess = .F.
		If this.test2()
		*<Some code>
		endif
		? llSuccess	&& turned into .T.!
	ENDPROC

	PROCEDURE test2
		* no parameter is passed !
		* Create llSuccess, local by default:
		llSuccess = .F.
		*<Some other code>
		llSuccess = .T.
		RETURN llSuccess 
	ENDPROC

ENDDEFINE

I've always thought that a variable created in a method is by default LOCAL and cannot be accessed by higher or lower methods, that is (in my mind) that it cannot be changed by another lower / higher method. That's what I read in the Help.

And that's true most of the time, when you create a simple variable in a method. But it's false when your method calls another method in which you create a local variable with the same name.

Thus, the 'llSuccess' variable in Test1() shouldn't be affected by what happens to a same-named variable in another method like test2(). Yet it is: llSuccess is turned into .T. after test2() has executed!
But the problem doesn't occur any longer if I create llSuccess in each method this way:

LOCAL llSuccess   && .F. by default, anyway

The bottom line of this is that it's a good habit to always declare explicitly the variables LOCAL when one creates a local variable in any method.

HTH