Hi Dorin,
Here is an example of how we do it in FPD26:

		*---Get Password
		hideword = ""
		password = ""
		mkey     = ""


		DO WHILE .T.
			hideword = LEFT(hideword+SPACE(8),8)
			@  2,22 GET hideword PICTURE "XXXXXXXX"
			CLEAR GETS
			hideword = RTRIM(hideword)
			
			mkey = INKEY(0,"H")
			
			DO CASE
			CASE mkey < 0
				LOOP
			CASE mkey = 13 .OR. mkey = 10
				EXIT
			CASE mkey = 27
				*---IF [Esc] was hit start over
				producer = "   "
				EXIT
			CASE mkey = 127
				*---BACKSPACE
				IF LEN(password) > 1
					hideword = LEFT(hideword,LEN(hideword)-1)
					password = LEFT(password,LEN(password)-1)
				ELSE
					hideword = ""
					password = ""
				ENDIF
			OTHERWISE
				hideword = hideword + "*"
				password = password + CHR(mkey)
			ENDCASE
		ENDDO
wait WINDOW hideword    && just so you can see
wait WINDOW password    && just so you can see

THe above is inside another loop of course prompting for the login name first and then checking the number of tries and incrementing it.

Tracy