Mark,

>When my program encounters an error I would like to be able to open the form straight away.
>
>At present I have to do a
>
>CANCEL (if I have suspended it)
>CLEAR ALL
>
>I do not like using clear all because it clears out the entire environment.
>
>I expected the lines below to release my forms from memory whilst leaving everything else
>
>FOR x = 1 TO _screen.FormCount
> _screen.Forms(x).release()
>ENDFOR
>

First off, you need to loop through Forms in reverse order. As you release each form, the Forms collection shrinks in size. You will eventually throw an error because x will be greater than the size of Forms.

>It does work but it crashes if I have the form designer window open because it is trying to release that as well as the forms I want to get rid of.
>
>I get the message xxxxxxx is not an object. I have tried using VARTYPE() but it returns 'O' for form designer windows
>
>How can I tell the above line of code to ignore form designer windows.
>
>

You can use the Parent property of the form to determine if it is part of a Formset. The form designer is just a formset wrapper for your form. If you don't use formsets and the form you are attempting to release is part of one, then don't release it.

HTH.