You can have Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 automatically create the data source when you insert date pickers (as well as other controls). If you do this, InfoPath will create a field in the data source that is bound to the date picker.

1. In design mode, place the insertion point where you want to insert the date picker.
2. If the Controls task pane is not visible, click More Controls on the Insert menu.
3. In the Controls task pane, make sure the Automatically create data source check box is selected.

   Note  If the check box cannot be selected, the form's design does not allow the data source to be automatically created. You must insert a date picker that is bound to an existing field or to a field that you create.

4. Click Date Picker.
5. To specify the way the date is displayed in the form, double-click the date picker, click Format, and click the display format you want in the Display the date like this list.

   Note  You can change the display format of the date only if the data type is date or date and time.

1. In design mode, place the insertion point where you want to insert the date picker.

   Note  If you are binding the date picker to a repeating field, the date picker must be inside a repeating table or repeating section.

2. If the Data Source task pane is not visible, click Data Source on the View menu.
3. In the Data Source task pane, right-click the field you want the date picker to be bound to, and then click Date Picker on the shortcut menu.

   Note  If you do not see Date Picker as a choice on the shortcut menu, make sure that the field has a date or date and time data type. If the field has a text data type, you can still use a date picker by clicking More on the shortcut menu and then clicking Date Picker in the Select a Control dialog box.

4. To specify the way the date is displayed in the form, double-click the date picker, click Format, and click the display format you want in the Display the date like this list box.

   Note  You can change the display format of the date only if the data type is date or date and time.

To test the date picker, click to select it. An icon on the date picker indicates whether it is correctly bound to its field. There are three possible icons:

The binding is correct.

The control may not function as expected because of a potential binding problem. To identify the potential problem, right-click the control, and then click More Details on the shortcut menu.

The control will not function correctly because of a binding problem. To identify the problem, right-click the control, and then click More Details on the shortcut menu.

In addition, you can test the date picker by clicking Preview Form on the Standard toolbar.