frmnumpad will still be in scope after the dialog is closed, so you can still access anything on the form from within the method that calls the dialog (after line frmnumpad.ShowDialog()) - no need to pass anything back. This may not be best practice programming, however.

Del

>I know this is easy, but I can't seem to get it right so.....
>
>I have a form that calls a second form.
>
>testx = "help";
>Form2 frmnumpad = new Form2(testx);
>frmnumpad.ShowDialog();
>MessageBox.Show(testx);
>
>this does fine. The value in variable "testx" is passed to the new form and it shows up there without a problem. I want to enter some data into a textbox on the new form, then return that entry into "testx" and see it back on the calling form.
>
>I know how to do this in VFP easy enough, but seem to be having a brain lock on this one.
>
>Any help would be appreciated.
>
>thanks
>
>Alan Wyne