Somehow the variable frmMain is out of scope. When you started the form did you use the syntax:

DO frmMain NAME frmMain

?
Also, when you created the three form properties, don't bind them to anything. Just give them an initial value like .t., .f., "", etc depending on the value type. Bind the three controls (textboxes?) on the top level form to the three appropriate form properties such as text1.controlsource = thisform.currentquater or something similar.

I just tested it with a test form in code only and it works. Try this:

PRIVATE FrmMain
frmMain = CREATEOBJECT("myform")
frmMain.show()
*DO form FrmMain NAME FrmMain
MESSAGEBOX('Changing the value of text1 to Jones',0)
m.name="Jones"
frmMain.oname=m.name
FrmMain.text1.refresh()
MESSAGEBOX('Changing the value of text1 to Smith',0)
m.name="Smith"
frmMain.oname=m.name
FrmMain.text1.refresh()
MESSAGEBOX('click to Exit',0)
FrmMain.release()
RELEASE frmMain
REturn

DEFINE CLASS myform AS form


	DoCreate = .T.
	Caption = "Test Form"
	oname = ""
	Name = "Form1"


	ADD OBJECT text1 AS textbox WITH ;
		ControlSource = "thisform.oname", ;
		Height = 23, ;
		Left = 48, ;
		Top = 36, ;
		Width = 100, ;
		Name = "Text1"


ENDDEFINE

Tracy

>thanks tracy for replying
>
>but i get a error message 'object frmMain is not found'.
>
>ok here's what i did
>in my toplevel form i created three properties and bound to memory variables.
>
>in my prg i update the memory variables and before returning i issue
>
>frmMain.currentquater=m.mvQuarter_Q
>frmMain.year=m.mvQuarter_Y
>frmMain.masterupd=m.mvMasterUpd
>
>but the above error message popup now
>
>what's missing ?
>txs