InfoPath Dev

Hello. I am new to the forum and hope your collective wisdom may help me with a persistent problem I'm having with an InfoPath form.

I recently changed computers and the problem I'm having is with the first form that I have created on this new-to-me computer. On the form, I have a text field called Unit. In its control properties, I set the list box choices to get choices from an external data source. It pulls a list of unit codes from another SharePoint list into a dropdown box from which users choose the appropriate code. Rules set up on the Unit field autofill three other fields, Approver 1, Approver 2, and Approver 3 (all people fields that pull names from Active Directory) based on the Unit code that's selected. That works well and is identical to the structure used for other forms I've created.

What's different this time around is that when users hit the submit button, the auto-filled names in the approver fields do not publish to the SharePoint list. The data in all other fields do make it into SharePoint. Any idea why the data in these fields aren't "sticking"? I have tried clicking on the checkmark icon on each of the people fields, but that doesn't help - the data still don't make it into SharePoint. I've noticed that if I type the names into the approver fields, they publish to SharePoint; however, I do not want to ask end users to type in names that already appear in the form, nor do I want to get rid of the rules that autofill those approver names. Neither scenario leads to a good end user experience. Another consequence of the data not populating in SharePoint is that the SharePoint Designer workflow that's attached to the SharePoint list cannot get the names it needs to send emails to the approvers.

The most frustrating thing about this is that other forms that I created on my previous computer worked perfectly well and all data entered into the forms made it into SharePoint. Any idea what may be going on? Thank you in advance for your help!

Hello, All fields inside the form don't publish to SharePoint by itself, you specify promoted fields to let them published as columns in SharePoint. specifically for people fields, you need to publish the first field (DisplayName).

If you are using rules to set people picker fields you need to set both the account and the display name - are you doing that?

 I'm setting the display name but haven't set the account (I hadn't had to do that on previous forms). Do I enter the account name in this syntax: xyzcompany\joe.blow (our email addresses are [email protected])?

 Thanks for your response. In this case, I started with a SharePoint list then selected Customize in InfoPath to create the form so all of the fields in the form (including the approver fields) already appeared in the SharePoint list.

I see from your other replies that this is a list form. Were your other forms also list forms? If I recall correctly, setting people pickers with rules works in a new form, but that I had issues when editing (let me know if this is the case, I should be able to find a link for you outlining the issue). If you are using SharePoint Online, it will be different than if this is your company's on prem SharePoint. I usually display the account id on the form then select using a person picker in the browser to be sure - generally you can drag it from the data source task pane (make sure it is in advanced view) as a repeating table so you can see all the values, then try setting using the people picker control in the browser, see what the value is for the account ID. Generally, if on-prem, you'd use domain\username.

 Thank you, Hilary! Starting over and creating the form first then publishing it to a form library did the trick. It's nice when the solution is a simple one. :)

Hi, again.

I recreated the form, published it to a SharePoint library, and promoted fields to the library. Now I'm having a weird issue when the first approver receives the form. I'm using InfoPath 2013 and the Office 365 version of SharePoint.

When the user fills out the form and hits the Submit button, the data populate in the library and kick off a workflow that sends an email message to both the submitter and to the first approver. The approver's email includes a link to a view of the form that includes Approve and Deny buttons. Rules on the buttons set the approver's decision and the date, submits the form, and switches to a view of the forms that acknowledges that the form was submitted. That's how it's supposed to work. What's been happening is that when the Approve or Deny buttons are hit, the screen changes to an error message that says Submit --> Sorry, something went wrong. When I go back to the library, the decision and date are recorded in the proper fields. But the workflow stops; the next approver does not receive an email message as he/she should if the request is approved and the submitter does not receive an email message saying that the request was denied if that is the approver's decision.

I have a data connection to submit the data and a different data connection that submits the approvers' decisions. Should I change that and have any approver decisions' data submissions go through the same data connection as the main form? I have a feeling that the problem has something to do with the data connection(s).

 Thank you!