Sorry about taking so long to respond -- it's been a _very_ long week. The character equivalent that you'll get will be sonetime like: formname.pageframe.page.container.control for those objects on forms and: container.control for those objects on _screen. You'll have to look through the _screen.forms() array to find the right form, or look through _screen.objects() to find the right object. Once you've got that, you'll be able to reference the object as (for example): _screen.forms(4).pageframe.page.container.control or _screen.objects(3).container.control from any form. > >Why not use a character depiction of the reference, instead of a > direct > >pointer? This'll take a millisecond to resolve into a pointer when > you > >require it, but it'll also allow you to blow away objects on a whim > (or > >a crash) if required. In any of the application level classes that I > >use, I hold a character reference, just so I don't have a pointer > >holding the object open. > > Excuse me, Paul, do you mean setting a property to something like > "THISFORM.MyObject" and when needing the reference just issuing & on > the > property? > > If so, that couldn't be done if I want to use the reference in another > place such as another Form or another object outside it (what is very > usual > here). For example, how could I use a character depiction of the > reference > in this situation: > > DO FORM MyForm WITH THISFORM > > Did I understand you well or am I missing something?