It looks like I am going to have to bite the bullet and use properties. The following should do what I want.
class test: def __init__(self): self.__HB = 0 self.__VPG = 0 def _get_HB(self): return (self.__HB, 'MF1', 0) def _set_HB(self, x): self.__HB = x HB = property(_get_HB, _set_HB) def _get_VPG(self): return (self.__VPG, 'MF1', 1) def _set_VPG(self, x): self.__HB = x VPG = property(_get_VPG, _set_VPG) Usisg this I can set / and clear HB and VPG usig the syntax t = test() t.HB = 1 t.VPG = 0 and when I read them I get a tuple which holds the currcnt value in position 0 and the other parameters I need in positions 1 and 2. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list