>Why is that when I create a form with an Image object and set it's .Picture property to a valid bitmap file it doesn't display it?

How large is the BMP and how large is the Image? Could it be that the IMage Object is so much smaller than the BMP that you only see a blank corner or something? You might want to play with the Clip property.

Also, at runtime, what does FILE(Image.Picture) give? It may be pointing to a valid file at Design Time, but not at runtime.