diff --git a/src/gui/components/cc_frm.cpp b/src/gui/components/cc_frm.cpp
index 3b61a8023..6e2fc8920 100644
--- a/src/gui/components/cc_frm.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/components/cc_frm.cpp
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ void CComponentsForm::clear()
 }
 
 
-void CComponentsForm::addCCItem(CComponentsItem* cc_Item)
+int CComponentsForm::addCCItem(CComponentsItem* cc_Item)
 {
 	if (cc_Item){
 		dprintf(DEBUG_DEBUG, "[CComponentsForm]  %s-%d try to add cc_Item [type %d] to form [current index=%d] \n", __func__, __LINE__, cc_Item->getItemType(), cc_item_index);
@@ -218,16 +218,18 @@ void CComponentsForm::addCCItem(CComponentsItem* cc_Item)
 		cc_Item->setFocus(true);
 
 		dprintf(DEBUG_DEBUG, "\t%s-%d parent index = %d, assigned index ======> %d\n", __func__, __LINE__, cc_item_index, new_index);
-
+		return getCCItemId(cc_Item);
 	}
 	else
 		dprintf(DEBUG_NORMAL, "[CComponentsForm]  %s-%d tried to add an empty or invalide cc_item !!!\n", __func__, __LINE__);
+	return -1;
 }
 
-void CComponentsForm::addCCItem(const std::vector<CComponentsItem*> &cc_Items)
+int CComponentsForm::addCCItem(const std::vector<CComponentsItem*> &cc_Items)
 {
 	for (size_t i= 0; i< cc_Items.size(); i++)
 		addCCItem(cc_Items[i]);
+	return size();
 }
 
 int CComponentsForm::getCCItemId(CComponentsItem* cc_Item)
diff --git a/src/gui/components/cc_frm.h b/src/gui/components/cc_frm.h
index 52c3d5934..94c488350 100644
--- a/src/gui/components/cc_frm.h
+++ b/src/gui/components/cc_frm.h
@@ -78,8 +78,10 @@ class CComponentsForm : public CComponentsItem
 		///NOTE: Items always have parent bindings to "this" and use the parent background color as default! Set parameter 'ignore_parent=true' to ignore parent background color!
 		virtual void killCCItems(const fb_pixel_t& bg_color, bool ignore_parent);
 
-		virtual void addCCItem(CComponentsItem* cc_Item);
-		virtual void addCCItem(const std::vector<CComponentsItem*> &cc_items);
+		///add an item to form collection, returns id
+		virtual int addCCItem(CComponentsItem* cc_Item);
+		///add items from a vector to form collection, returns size/count of items
+		virtual int addCCItem(const std::vector<CComponentsItem*> &cc_items);
 		virtual void insertCCItem(const uint& cc_item_id, CComponentsItem* cc_Item);
 
 		///removes item object from container and deallocates instance