I hear what you and Sergey are saying, but with the exception of reserved words I have had no problem using Vartype() with objects. I just have to make sure that the object exists first. If there is any doubt that the object exists then I use type(), but once I've determined that the object exists, I don't see the point of not using Vartype() for further tests.

local loDoc
loDoc = createobject('myClass')
if type('loDoc.NAME') = 'C'
  ? Vartype(loDoc.Test)          && U
  ? Vartype(loDoc.BaseClass)     && C
  ? Vartype(loDoc.ColorSource)   && N
  etc...
endif

>

clear all
>? vartype( testmemvar ) && U
>testmemvar = "hi"
>? vartype( testmemvar ) && C
>testmemvar = 0
>? vartype( testmemvar ) && N
>testmemvar = createobject( "form" )
>? vartype( testmemvar ) && O
>

>
>Bottom line vartype() is designed to work for memvars. It is not designed to work for object properties as you have seen from the errors thrown and the unpredictable results. Use type() or pemstatus() to test for object properties.
>
>>I'm using VFP 7.0
>>

>>goHPL = CreateObject('HyperLink')
>>? vartype( goHPL )           && returns 'O'
>>? vartype( goHPL.test )      && returns 'U'
>>? vartype( goHPL.Left )      && Error "Property Left is not Found"
>>

>>Is this the say it's supposed to work?