Hi Gerry,

Thanks for the clarification. That did the trick!

Tracy

>Yes ... well, for some obscure reason (which I can't fathom), you have to use "brackets" when entering a "formula" via the "property sheet"; eg.
>
>

>(m.prem1+m.prem2)
>

>
>Some distant relation of "named expressions", possibly, or a bad hair day.
>
>>It appears to work programmatically if I set it for instance in the form's init via code, but it does not allow me to enter the formula in the property manually in anyway with/without quotes, the equal sign, etc.
>>
>>
>>>The ControlSource is entered as a "string". Did you try:
>>>
>>>..ControlSource = "m.prem1+m.prem2"
>>>
>>>(This becomes a Read-Only control, however).
>>>
>>>eg.
>>>

>>>m.a = "Waa"
>>>m.b = "Zoo"
>>>
>>>o1 = createobject("form1")
>>>o1.show
>>>on key label esc clear events
>>>read events
>>>on key label esc
>>>
>>>define class form1 AS form
>>>   add object txt1 as textbox with ;
>>>      controlsource = "m.a + m.b"
>>>
>>>   add object cmd1 as commandbutton with ;
>>>      left = 100, caption = "Clear"
>>>   add object cmd2 as commandbutton with ;
>>>      left = 100, top = 30, caption = "Refresh"
>>>
>>>proc cmd1.click
>>>   for each m.o_ctl in thisform.controls
>>>      if upper(m.o_ctl.class) = "TEXTBOX"
>>>         m.o_ctl.value = space(len(transform(m.o_ctl.value,"")))
>>>      endif
>>>   next
>>>
>>>proc cmd2.click
>>>   thisform.refresh()
>>>   thisform.draw()
>>>enddefine
>>>
>>>

>>>
>>>>I have never been able to do that. It always returns "the data source for this object must be a variable reference.'
>>>>
>>>>>Hi
>>>>>Put the formula in ControlSource , will work, and the value will be updated also
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>If a control has nothing in the controlsource but has a formula for its value i.e. m.prem1+m.prem2 refreshing the control does not run the formula again. Is there anyway to refresh those controls without restating the value as in this.txtprem_tot.value=m.prem1+m.prem2?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>TIA,
>>>>>>Tracy