InfoPath Dev

I have an IP 2007 form published as a content type.  I modified the template and republished a couple weeks ago.  Today users noticed that they cannot open forms in the library due to a new form template cannot be found.  The actual message from Show details is:

Element '{http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD/2011-06-29T20:36:59}txtVPFlag' is unexpected according to content model of parent element '{http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD/2011-06-29T20:36:59}HiddenFields'

I removed the field "txtVPFlag" from the HiddenFields node and found all instances where it was used in rules and removed them, then republished, no go.  I cracked open the manifest and found that the rules still referenced so I removed them manually from manifest., and then republished the form again, no go. The txtVPFlag textbox control was published to a site column.  The field and column isn't needed so it can be removed from the template but whether its there or not there, I get the same error message.  I've searched for all instances of txtVPFlag to no avail.  I don't know what else to do.

Hi - this message is because the existing XML have the txtVPFlag field and the form does not. If you change the form versioning settings to update existing XML, the txtVPFlag will be deleted from the existing XML when they are opened. That can be found under Form Options > Versioning.

I forgot to mention I already checked that, it's set to On version upgrade "Automatically upgrade existing forms".  Something has gone haywire.

 I did add the field back in just so it thinks all is ok but it still spits out the error message. Is there a limit to how many times one can upgrade.  My version is up to 1.0.0.4130

You should be able to download an existing XML and preview the form with it - is this in the browser or the filler?

Your version is not too high - to the best of my knowledge, there is no limit to how many times one can upgrade.

I have, in the past, occasionally seen a template get stuck because the max version to upgrade (this is found in the manifest file for the template) is incorrect - attach your XSN and an XML if you want me to look for that.