Is there any way to show the ""mini-calendar"" on a form for the current month - without having to click on the calendar icon?

Robert, Can you present a use case? I am hoping it will give me a better sense of your context.

It is for an HR app. I'd like to display the current month "mini-calendar" on screen, as the user is thinking about putting in his Starting and Ending Date of his vacation.  Currently, I have just the two date fields. They would like to see a calendar without having to click on the small calendar icon in the date field both times.

screen something like:
---------------------------------------
Start Date: --/--//      < mini calendar display                       End Date:--/--/--   <mini-calendar display of current...
                                              of the current month,
                                                with option to move
                                                        to next month>       
---------------------------------------------------            

please see attached example

Not sure if there is a way to show that min calendar without clicking on a date field as such, but I think you could create an embedded report of the calendar type based on a report link. What if you could place a formula date field on the form that has today() as the value. And then create a report link to a calendar report that limits itself to the 1st of the current month and the last day of the current month.

embedded report of the calendar type based on a report"
Yes, I looked at that option, but the standard calendar reports are still quite large.
Thanks for your input.

Understand. Another option would be to write a mini javascript code using the iol technique that triggers a click even on the date field when the form opens. That would open the mini-calendar.