>... that may or may not make a difference because of this fact. The only place this would really make sense is in DynamicProperties (of say a grid, and hopefully controls in the future) but this still doesn't make sense because before this happens the property wouldn't be valid.


Scope is visibliity, a private is visible in the routine that creates it and those called from that routine. They are not visible above that routine. The variables life time with private is form creation until the routine that created it ends (or you RELEASE it). PUBLIC on the other hand are never automatically released. You have release them or quit VFP to get rid of them.