Archie-
I'm not sure what to tell you on this, but this morning I dragged a new object on the screen. I am using your application. All I did was open the collections, add 6 members (0-5) and then edit each member's color and value settings. I then added this object to your increment code, rebuilt, then ran app. The backcolor works and the forecolor doesn't. So, perhaps it's something in the order of generation. But, there is something wrong. So, try this as a step. Drag a new object on the screen. Don't do anything but add the messages in the collection list. That should mimic what I did.