print "loadlistTables()"
        # the  listables is the Glade class GtkComboBoxEntry
        self.listTablesObj = self.wTree.get_widget('listTables')
        # next line prints <gtk.ComboBoxEntry object (GtkComboBoxEntry)...etc
        print self.listTablesObj
        
        slist = [ "String 1", "String 2", "String 3", "String 4" ]
        # this next line gives the error
        # AttributeError: 'gtk.ComboBoxEntry' object has no attribute 'set_popdown_strings
        self.listTablesObj.set_popdown_strings(slist)