InfoPath Dev

I have an infopath form that will be used to store employee information. The form contains general employee information (address, phone number, etc) as well as zero or more repeating items (emergency contacts, etc). I've been asked by my boss to configure this form such that it will serve both as a template for instances in a forms library and also as a user interface (via the Infopath form web part) where users can select existing employees or create new employees. In other words, going into the forms library, selecting "new document" and entering in new employee information and submitting it back to the library is not what my boss wants. I've argued that using lists as the data source and the infopath form along with qRules as the UI is a practical solution. However, my boss really wants to have an instance of the infopath form for every employee. Regardless of what angle I begin to attack this from, I can't seem to get away from the idea that I'm dealing with two completely different infopath forms--one that will be used as the instance in the forms library and another that will be used to edit the columns in the forms library that have been promoted from the infopath form template when I publish it to the library. Of course, this would mean that I would have two separate form libraries, one that stores an infopath form instance for each employee and another that I publish the user interface infopath form to that I will, in turn, configure the Infopath form web part to use. Futhermore, if I have a separate infopath form functioning as the user interface then how do I go about creating new employees from within it? How do I create a form instance, populate that instance and then return all the details contained within that instance back to the user interface? Does what I'm asking for make sense? Is it possible?

Hi!

So - if I open a brand new template, I should either be able to edit an existing employee or enter information on a new employee?

qRules can help you here (if you are using it in this template) because you could use the following logic in your form:

1. Add a secondary data connection to the library of employee forms (make sure you've promoted an identifier, like Employee Name)
2. Add a secondary data connection to one of the XML files in the library (don't query on load)
3. Add a drop down that uses the DC in item 1 for it's options
4. Add a qRules command to change the connection URL for item 2 to the selected Employee's XML (you may need to experiment a bit here - I don't know the details of the naming convention in your library - but probably you'll use ChangeConnectionUrl and a concat formula to get the correct URL for the XML you want) after the user selects an item from the drop down
5. Query the data connection in item 2 so that you have the XML
6. You may be able to use the Replace command to replace the main data source XML with the XML from your query - so that is one option. The other option is to add an identity transform to your form as a resource file (I'm attaching one) and then use the Transform command (here is a command from one of my forms that uses this approach - you'll need to change it so it reflects your data source nodes - Transform /xsltfile=IdentityTransform.xslt /sourceds=FormXml /sourcepath=/my:BudgetRequest /destpath=/my:BudgetRequest /excluderoot=true ) to transform the data from the 2ds to the main DS

It sounds a lot harder than it is - but using this approach allows you to "load up" an existing XML into a blank template, which I think is what you are wanting to achieve? Let me know if I've misunderstood.

As an aside - did you receive that NW template I emailed you? I kept meaning to follow up and make sure it wasn't blocked by a pesky email server. :)

I'll have to work through these instructions before I can tell you whether or not this is what I'm being asked to do. I did receive the NW template and was able to get it working. Thanks for that.

I'm having trouble with step 4. Is there a way that I can query the name of the xml instance after I've selected an employee, perhaps via the value field of the employee selected from the drop down? Ideally, I'd prefer not to blindly assume that an instance follows a particular naming convention. Rather, I'd like to have the user select an employee from the drop down and use the value of the selected item to query for the name of the instance, then change the URL path as described in step 4. A more preferably way would be to include the instance name in the secondary data source (described in step 1) and grab it once an employee is selected, thus precluding me from querying the library following a selection.

What is the data source you are using for the dropdown that they can select employees from? I would add a data connection to the form library where the XML are submitted, and use that for the dropdown - with the employee name for the display (promoted from the form) and the "name" from the library for the value.

The data source for the dropdown is as you suggested. However, the "name" field is not an available field to include. See attached screenshot.

Euw. Sorry! Can you promote the field in the form you use for the form name, so you have that in the library as well? Another option is to use an owssvr.dll connection, but I find those to be sort of slow.

I think I may have found something. Let me give this a try. Thanks again for all your help.