HI again. I am passing a pointer to a record structure in a SendMessage. This is fine. Now, this next bit is where I was coming unstuck with the dispose problem I was having. The procedure is declares as follows :- procedure TForm1.DrawItem(var msg:TDrawRecord); How do I then access the record structure in MSG. if I go:- sString := msg.myString; I get an access violation. How do I do the above without getting an AV ? Cheers, Jeremy Coulter Jeremy Coulter (Manager) Visual Software Solutions Christchurch, New Zealand PH 03-3521595 FAX 03-3521596 MOBILE 021-2533214 www.vss.co.nz --------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Zealand Delphi Users group - Delphi List - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.delphi.org.nz To UnSub, send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body of "unsubscribe delphi"