so has anyone done or know how to gray out the form that is beneath a modal form? the modal form in my application is opened by double clicking a listbox, i was wondering if there was a way to show the form as deactivated or something like that? thanks.

You really dont' need to show the main form as being deactivated. Go to the properties of the modal form and set the Pop Up and Modal properties to 'Yes'. This will prevent the user from changing any data on the main form until the modal form has been closed.

that's true. i even tried the opacity method using a transparent form but opening a popup form has a noticeable delay. what i really just want is to change the color of the other form or perhaps shows it's deactivated.