HTML_QuickForm and DB_DataObject_FormBuilder date question...

Hello all, I have searched high and low and couldn't find anything on how to correctly display the defaulted 'date' element as a text field? I am actually trying to get the information into an ajax function but I can't seem to pull everything needed... if anything I can only pull the first day field for some reason. So instead I'm trying to just convert it over to a plaintext field they can type in. Has anybody had any luck in either of these situations? I have tried using getElementById and getElementsByName to try and get the fields but no luck. I have also tried just setting the elementTypeMap(?) option to change it to text but I get an htmlspecialchars error and it gives me blank fields. Any help? Thanks a lot, Zane