varread() did it.

In the Field Validation Rule, I have

   fieldrule(VARREAD())

And in fieldrule.prg I have

  parameter cNothing
  ? cNothing

And now when I modify and then leave a field, I can see what it is. Perfect! Now I can change fieldrule.prg to be a generic handler (some do case stuph depending on the value of cNothing) , and can make it change certain fields (proper on some names etc) as they hit the table....

Thanks!