>I don't want the input mask because when I did put it in there, it actually puts all of the input mask char's into the field so I would have to make my phone field 13 chars rather than 10 chars. And why did they work before I put the ! char in the parent class. And is there a different format for the format property that will work.

Steve,

Put it in the InputMask and put R in the Format. R makes all non-inputmask symbol characters NOT part of the data but only for formating the display.