Alan

I have been watching this thread with interest. So far, I am able to ascertain two things:

1) I, as a NEW VFP, understand the dynamics of the question and have asked myself many times the same question.
2) There will never be a definitive answer on this question.

I have often thought of it as this:

When I need a form to manipulate data DIRECT, I use the "DO FORM". Why? Because of my project I have many database tables open . I use the form DataEnvironment to open the tables and the DO FORM to set some specifics. Sort-of a data environment class - but not quite. There are many variances to my data requirements so I am at a point where I cannot drill down further.

When I need a form which extracts, displays, or edits data INDIRECT I use CREATE OBJECT. MY RULE is: I have an instance of form called with DO FORM. This form will handle all of the READ/WRITE requirements to the desired tables. One of the members is a memo field - yet I only want to work with the memo contents when called because of screen size limits. I have the form pass the memo value to my "MEMO CLASS" and create the memo class object. On release of the memo class object, I return the new memo contents back to the calling form to handle read/write processes. This is much faster than the DO FORM in that I have no overhead on environments, extra methods which are not needed, etc.

This is only my opinion - but it is a rule which has helped me immensely. There are counters to this argument, such as a public data session, etc. But I feel comfortable following this rule set. Find something you are comfortable with. Check the FAQ/articles as well. Good to see another "NEWBIE" to the VFP world here and good luck.
HTH.

Ric

NB: Some part of this thread went astray on programming classes vs. class designer, etc... This is not relevant to you primary question.