>FWIW, I only consider it a misfeature because VFP doesn't do implicit type conversions elsewhere (ala VB). I like implicit type conversions, it keeps your code from being litterd with ALLTRIM(STR()), TRANSFORM(), VAL(), and soforth, but this the fact that this case is so isolated makes it a 'misfeature', IMO.

I'm amazed that given the General type, VFP doesn't typecast it for the expression you're using. I don't know how many times I've set comboboxes to .T. when they were initialized to 0 (un-bound) but .F. (logical bound)

"littered" - i know what you mean. I record time worked in seconds, our accounting software (poor as it is) expects the data in hh:mm format. The simplest calculation is about 2 lines long. hourspart=Str(val(left(allt(cHHMM),2))) Legible code is a utopian fantasy in this environment.

(but then, the legacy code here has 'environment setup' like this:
On Escape QUIT
On Error QUIT
Select Case
Case x = 1
(code)
Case x = 2
(same code as case 1, with different Wait Window message)
Case x = 1 AND y = 2
(doesn't matter what code, it never runs anyway)
End Case

Along with input prompts like "???" and messages "Working..." is it any wonder the users complain?