George,

>>George,
>>
>>What makes this a compelling notion to consider is the idea that source control would ostensibly be easier...
>
>DD,
>
>Hmmm, never really considered that.
>
>Let me put it this way: As you know, I've worked in a number of environments, one of which (VB) that I know of, actually does use a text file to store information regarding its forms and projects. This means that you can take any text editor and whack away at your heart's content. Have I ever had the slightest desire to do so? Nope. On top of this, the VB editor does have some shortcomings that this might be a good idea for over-coming. Still no.

Well, neither have I. As I had mentioned, the compelling issue for me would be the ease of source control. Perhaps ease-ier is more accurate. <g> If you take that as your starting poing then the ability to reverse-create visual images is a natural next step, which IMO makes the case for going from Text to Visual. Even then I'd also agree with you that I would seldom 'hack' the text file either. Why bother? But, I can see why some folks would like that. Goodness I fought using the mouse for a couple of years before I surrendered to the rodent. <g>

As an aside I think the VB IDE really stinks - particularly compared to VFP's. Now, here where I have two monitors it's even better. Debug in one running while I execute my code. Makes life much easier...

>
>The way I work, when I'm working on a particular object or class, that's my focus. I could care less about any objects it might invoke or that might invoke it.

Oh, me too. I think that what I heard from those who like the text approach was the whole notion of directly editing the files. I'd think that they are probably just more comfortable editing that way. *shrug*

>
>I guess it's just a blind spot for me.

I don't really think it's a blind spot as much as it is a personal preference. I have pretty much the same preferences as you do though I would like to see the functionality for the reasons above - source control and the necessity of re-engineering the visual side from the non-visual side. Other than that I'd probably never mess with the text files.