InfoPath Dev

Hi, I'm having issue with pulling data from a secondary data source (SharePoint list) into an InfoPath form and being able to edit the data (SharePoint 2010/IP 2010, I have qrules if there is anything in it that will help :) ). So, in the SP list, the field is  "Multiple lines of text". Originally I tried just a text box in the form, and I could edit the data in it, however, I couldn't add hard returns or navigate within the text box (no scroll bars, and the up/down arrows didn't work correctly). So, I changed the list field to rich text (and added "append changes to existing text" to yes, and added versioning so I could do that). Now, when I bring the field onto the form, it's a Rich Text box, but by default, the read only box is checked and disabled. I can't figure out how to get it unchecked so I can edit the text from the form.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Gwen 

I have something that will work if nothing else. Although I would really like the ability for the user to add hard returns (they are used to this and use it often in their current system that they are migrating off of into SharePoint).... so if my IP control is a text box, I can set the height to auto and let the box grow as needed... so I don't need the arrows or a scroll bar to navigate.

 Any ideas on getting the rich text box to work though? 

You don't have your users editing the text in a control bound to the secondary data source, do you? Or are you copying the data into your main data source....

Yes... that's the plan.  It's a repeating section (bound to the secondary data source). The user makes edits on the data there, and then the data drops to a hidden repeating InfoPath table. From there the records are bulk submitted back into the SharePoint list with qRules. Is there a better way?  This is how all my forms work (just how I learned to do it from my predecessor), however my other forms allow editing of multiple records at one time.

For this form, even though it's a repeating section from the secondary datasource, I only expect to get one record returned from my query. So I don't actually have to bundle the records for submitting back to the list.  So, I guess in this case, I could write the data from the secondary data source directly into IP fields and submit them from there. That would alleviate a "step"... However, I have a couple of drop down selection boxes. I would need a default value of the value from the secondary data source (and allow them to change the value with other options). I don't see how I can do this if I don't bind the control to the secondary data source field.

So maybe I could leave the other controls bound, but do the multiline text boxes outside of that... just thinking through it, that should work. 

I mean - the only thing I would do differently in general is copy the secondary data into the main data source BEFORE the user changes. So I wouldn't hide the main data source table... I just wouldn't display the 2ds. :)

I get so stuck in doing things the way I've always done, I don't think outside the box to come up with something easier LOL, even when requirements are different.

Is there something that I can do with the drop down fields though? Where I could set a default value to read the secondary data source? 

I think your current approach is fine if it works for you. You can have dropdowns bound to fields in your main data source, sure. Just use whatever they are supposed to use for the value / display and data connection....