Change one type of control to another type of control

As you design your form template, you may decide to replace one type of control with another. For example, you may decide that you want to replace an existing text box on the form template with a date picker control. Rather than deleting the existing control and adding a new control, you can simply convert the existing control into another type of control.

1. Right-click the control that you want to change, point to Change To on the shortcut menu, and then click the type of control that you want.

2. To change the data type for the control to match the new type of control that you are using, right-click the new control, click Control Properties on the shortcut menu, and then click the Data tab. In the Data type box, click the new data type for the control. For example, if you change a text box to a date picker, you may want to change the data type from Text (string) to Date (date). Whether you change the data type depends on how you want your data to be saved in the underlying XML.

Note: Because they are not bound to fields or groups in the data source, you cannot convert certain types of controls, including buttons, hyperlink controls, or expression boxes, into a different type of control.