custom seach panel

Hi there,

Using the drupal help i managed to customise my search form (http://drupal.org/node/45295).

my problem is now I need to do a couple of things and for the life of me I can't seem to find how to do this by searching the help material.

-- my search form has 4 fields -- a keywords field along with 3 text inputs for DD MM YY to allow the user to search based on a date. is this possible using the core drupal search functionality?

-- i'd also like for the advanced search panel not to show up when you do a search. currently, you search for a keyword and before the search results a huge advance search panel shows up. is there a way to turn this off?

I'd love any advice on these two matters!

Thanks

Lee