InfoPath Dev

I am unable to get this to work -- it actually works fine in PREVIEW, but not at all once published.  I have a lot of other Contact Selectors in this form, as well as other Contact Selectors within repeating tables in this form.

For a non-optional contact selector, my setup is: Repeating Group  (Repeating Table ( fields ... (ContactGroup (Person ( person fields ) ) ) ) )

The optional section version will just have an extra Group corresponding to the Optional Section containing the Contact Group stuff.

Once published, clicking "To..", typing in names, hitting the check button.. none of that works for the optional section selector.

 I have considered moving the Opt sect group out of the repeating table group.. I think that would make the selector work, but I don't think it would be 'repeating'... not sure.

Which version of InfoPath are you using?

2007

So the other Contact Selectors work but not this one?

I'm assuming that you are talking abou the browser forms not working but could you specify browser or rich client?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, just need a little more info to make sure I know the repro scenario...

Yeah sorry about the lack of info.

 Yes, the other selectors work fine (I'm using the Person group as a reference to have multiple).

It is the browser forms, yes.  (specifically it's in IE6, if that matters..)

Here's a random idea. Go to default data and fill in values for the optional section. In other words, give it one section that defaults. You can still hide the section using conditional formatting. My hunch is that it's not working because it doesn't have any XML fragment data to begin with.

Well I figured out a solution.  I don't know why I didn't try this earlier, because it is the same exact thing I have to do to get Contact Selectors to work in a repeating table.  You must set the Postback Settings to Always.. my guess is it need to be loaded in a certain way, and if it's just being added to the form without a reload (i.e. when you click insert row or expand an optional section) it is not getting whatever it is that it needs.  I believe this is only true in the browser.

 It is a sorry solution because it makes working with repeating tables / optional sections a bit laggy.. but I know of no other way.

Nice bit of sleuthing. Sorry I didn't suggest that but totally makes sense.

The other way is to use our contact selector control that calls our Active Directory Web Service. Or you could use UserProfile service and all that from your form. Neither of those web services will require a post-back.

Is your contact selector a 3rd party control?  Not sure if I can get that into this project, but it might be worth seeing.

I messed with the UserProfile service a while back.. maybe I didn't look into it enough, but how would that replace the standard contact selector which has a built-in address book ... I imagine I can hook a button up to atleast authenticate the entered user name / etc..

Which object needs the Postback Settings set to Always for the contact selector to work in a repeating or optional section? The "Browser Forms" tab doesn't show up for the contact selectors, and I tried setting this on the container sections, but still they do not work in the browser while inside of an optional section. I have several contact selectors inside of repeating sections inside of optional sections, and I have the same issue where the contact selectors don't work when the form opens in a browser. The optional sections are optional to avoid required field validation on parts of the form not being used.

It should be in the section's properties, whether it's a repeating or optional section.

I enabled this on all parent sections from the contact selectors, but they're still inoperable in the browser.