InfoPath Dev

Hello, hopeful newbie here.

I am using Infopath 2003 (Service Pack 2 installed) and would like to insert a sum for a column in a repeating table in my form. Following Microsoft`s instructions I`ve inserted a text box in the footer section of the table and was going to use the function builder which, according to Microsoft, can be found in the "Properties" dialog on the "Data" tab in the form of a small fx-button near the "default value" field.

However, there is no such button there. Once again, according to Microsoft`s Help site, the functionality of Infopath may be limited if there is no Service Pack installed, but I have Service Pack 2 installed on my PC.

If you can give me some pointers as to what might be wrong or whether there is maybe another way to access the function builder, I would be very grateful!

In text field properties click on rules and then you will be able to set the fields value and find the function button.

Hi Alexandra,

 Welcome to the board! I'm an InfoPath newbie myself and it would be nice to share and learn from others. So allow me to give this one a shot.

I'm using InfoPath 2007, but I'm sure that controls work much likely the same as that of InfoPath 2003.

What you want to do is double-click on the text box control that you inserted in your footer section (Let's call this "Sum" text box). The Text Box Properties window should then be displayed. On the Data tab, there's a Default Value section and a Value box. This is where you can specify a default value for your controls, in our case, for the Sum text box. Right beside the Value box is the fx button. That's the button described in the tutorial you've been following.

If you still don't see any fx button by following the directions above, let's try Clay's suggestion.

1. We'll do the same actions to get to the Text Box Properties, (double-click on the Sum text box).

2. Under Validation and Rules section on the Data tab of the Properties windows, there's a Rules button, click on that. You want to add a new rule so click on Add.

3. On the new window displayed, go ahead and click on Add Action. In the Action window, select the action from the drop-down menu. In this case, select "Set a field's value."

4. You should have 2 boxes to fill out, Field and Value. The fx button is on the right hand side of the Value box.

There it is. You can now add the function you want after clicking the fx button. Hope this helps, otherwise, please let me know.

Hello Clay and Mel,

thank you for your advice. Unfortunately, it didn`t work, but that is due to some strange installation malfunction. I`ve called up our IT and they said, that the reason for the unfindable fx-button is most likely that some option, which is usually automatically activated during the Infopath installation process, was in fact not activated. Unfortunately, they couldn`t tell exactly which option it was, else I would have posted it too, in case someone has a similar problem.

By now, they have reinstalled Infopath two times and it still doesn`t work. May be it is a sign from above to use Excel again...