[Resolved]Object Instance Error

[Pc_Madness]

'from the AlphaNumericButton usercontrol
Public Function getChr() As String
       If IsAlphabetic = False Then
           getChr = strDigitValue
       Else
           If keyPadTimer.Enabled = True Then
              'supposed to be working with this bit
               Dim tmpArray() As String
               Dim i As Integer
               For i = 0 To Len(strAlphaValue)
                   tmpArray(i) = strAlphaValue.Substring(i, 1)
               Next
               For i = 0 To tmpArray.Length
                   MsgBox(tmpArray(i))
               Next
               getChr = ""
               'end this bit
           Else
               If strAlphaValue.Length > 0 Then
                   getChr = strAlphaValue.Substring(0, 1)
               Else
                   getChr = " "
               End If
           End If
       End If
   End Function
 
 
 
 
 
Private Sub btnKey2to9Handler(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnKey2.Click, btnKey3.Click
 
       If armed = True Or expectingInput = True Then
           Static KeyValue As String
           MsgBox(sender.name)
           If Not lastKeyPressed Is sender Then
               AlphaNumericButton.keyPadTimer.Enabled = False
           End If
           lastKeyPressed = sender
 
           If AlphaNumericButton.IsAlphabetic = False Then
               KeyValue = sender.Getchr
           Else
 
              'Working with this part
               If Not AlphaNumericButton.keyPadTimer.Enabled Then
                   KeyValue = sender.Getchr
                   AlphaNumericButton.keyPadTimer.Enabled = True
               Else
                   'Delete the last alpha character.
                   If inputBuffer.Length > 0 Then
                       inputBuffer = inputBuffer.Substring(0, inputBuffer.Length - 1)
                   End If
                   'Determine the next alpha character.
 
                   'Errors here if I click within one second
                   MsgBox(sender.Getchr)
               End If
           End If
 
       End If
   End Sub

Howdy folks.

My little usercontrol has a problem (), it completely crashes when I try to use sender.GetChr.(the Getchr function will recieve and return values when its finished) Basically I have a sub which handles the click events for 10 AlphaNumericButton controls (top code is from that), and they have to retrieve a value using the Getchr function. Theres a timer which is shared across all of the usercontrols called keypadtimer (which is inside the control) which is set for 1 second. So the first time I click, the timer not enabled part fires and works properly. If I wait longer than 1 second, it'll work fine again... but if I click before 1 second has elapsed, I get the following error on the Msgbox part,

An unhandled exception of type 'System.NullReferenceException' occurred in microsoft.visualbasic.dll

Additional information: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Anyone?