Cindy,

I think you are confusing the format and inputmask property.
With the inputmask, every 'character' in the control is 'controlled' by a single character in inputmask. (So if you have a C(5) field, you need "!!!!!" in the inputmask)
However every character in the format property is 'issued' on every 'character' in the control. When you put "!" in format, everything in a textbox is uppercased. If you put "!A" in format, everything in a textbox is uppercased and only alpha characters are possible.

Regards,