i already told you. it shows "#error", no other details. i observed one thing. i noted that i could not see any field to use with controls embedded in a rectangle. that might be because the rectangle cannot have any dataset. if for example you add a rectangle and then add a list in it, set a dataset for the list then the controls in the list cand select fields. it's a bit strange but at least it works this way. it can be easily seen that the reportviewer is version 1 and there can be done a lot to improve it, but hey it's better than nothing!