InfoPath Dev

I've redone the SPD workflow (removed all conditions) and now it showing that new forms are starting the workflow.  But now I'm getting this error in the workflow status column of the library. 

"Failed on Start (retrying)"

I click on that and I can see the slightly more descriptive error ...

"7/24/2009 7:42 AM Error  SP_SSP RMA Filename Renamer failed to start."  ("SP_SSP" is the service account that runs nearly all the Sharepoint services).

I checked all the event logs (including Qdabra's) in the server's Event Viewer, but nothing appears around that time period.

But yes, it appears today that new items are indeed trying to invoke the workflow.  Since what I'm currently experiencing is more of a Sharepoint issue, I won't bother you about it.  However if you do have any pull with the DBXL developers, tell them a custom filenaming feature will save me and perhaps others a huge amount of trouble.

Thank you all for your assistance.  I'll keep you informed on how things go with my troubleshooting.

- Ra 

Hi Ra,

We've logged the custom filename feature and are investigating this request for DBXL 2.4. DBXL 2.4 is tentatively scheduled for release in October. If you would like to postpone a purchasing decision until you have time to try it with DBXL 2.4, send email to Sales at Qdabra no spammy dot com and we will send you a free trial extension for 3 months.

We can also help with SharePoint if you need it, so let us know if you don't get unstuck.

Best,

Hi Ra,

Sorry to hear that you are having trouble getting this done. Actually, I found a workaround which you can try on so you don't have to create duplicate columns in your SharePoint list. I'm assuming that the reason why you're not getting the columns in SPD is because the form is published through "Publish XSN" in SharePoint tab of DBXL. But when the form is published using InfoPath, it works in SPD. We are still trying to investigate why this could have happened. Meantime, you can publish your form using InfoPath (direct publish it through File > Publish) but make sure to follow the steps in this document (don't worry because this also works with codeless forms). Then, when you reach step #6 - h, select Web Service instead of Object Model.

I just tried this and it worked. I got my SharePoint columns displayed in SPD, the workflow ran as expected, and the file name (DocID) is replaced with a meaningful value I set in the workflow. The solution worked for me when using "Start this workflow when a new item is created".

Please try this and let us know how it works with your scenario.

Thanks,

In my case, I got rid of the error "Failed on Start (retrying)" when I switched to Web Service. Could you try it? In SharePoint tab of DAT, you'lll see the options "Object Model" and "Web Service". Select Web Service and resave your SharePoint mapping.

Hi,

I followed the document's instructions to the letter and changed step 6h from Object Model to Web Service as you said to, but still the workflow is failing to start when a new item is created.  It is still only working when manually invoked.

[EDIT] Your idea of having Infopath publish the template to Sharepoint instead of DBXL did work, in that the IP promoted fields are now visible in SPD.  A small victory, that I do humbly thank you for. 

- Ra

Hello Everyone,

Jo-Anne's solution did indeed work!

Our preliminary testing of the workflow was done on the server itself.  Which makes sense as I was sitting there doing the configuration.  However, when using a diferent machine with a different login, the workflow ran automatically as it should.

 Thank you for your help everyone,

 - Ra

The following information will help in diagnosing the problem:

1) SharePoint Server Farm configuration (how many servers and where components live...)

2) Where is DBXL installed (web front end, application server, etc...)

3) Is DBXL installed on the same website as SharePoint?

4) Are you using webservice or object model for SharePoint mapping?

5) What groups were used when installing DBXL for the Admin group and the DBXL Admin group

6) Is the form using IPFS or the IP rich client?

Thanks,

Jim

Hi Jim,

To answer your questions:

1) Farm configuration on a single server (called MOSS), which houses the IIS application, SQL database, and the shared service provider.

2 & 3) DBXL is installed on the same website as the Sharepoint top level site, on port 80 (http://moss) and physically on the same server.

4) Was using Object Model mapping, but switched to using Web Service (on recommendation from a previous post), which worked better, but not for every user.  BTW, switching to Web Service made SSO fields pop up in the DBXL DAT.  I've left them blank.

5) DBXL was installed on the server using the domain's administrator account, if that is what you are asking.

6) The form is IPFS.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

-Ra

Thank you Jim.

After reading over your questions a second time, and trying to figure out what you were getting at with question #5.  I found the "An Overview of DBXL Permissions" document on this site.  I read it over and figured out that the default settings during install is what was faulty.  At the time I did not have an understanding of those settings, so went with the default thinking that that would be "mostly harmless".  Turns out I needed to set the Write Group to my Domain Users AD group.  Once I did that everything worked as advertised. 

Please thank Ted Fitch, Jo-Anne, and the rest of your team for me.  You guys helped me out of quite a pickle.  This software will help our organization out of several pickles.  I look forward to seeing the file renaming functionality built in to the next version.

Thanks again for everything,

- Ra

I'm glad you were able to figure out the permissions problem.  I have investigated the issue with the naming, and believe I may have another solution.  The problem is that the Name value must be unique within the library.  DBXL uses the DBXL Document ID as the name so conflicts should not occur.  Renaming in workflow requires having a mechanism to prevent duplicates.

I have almost completed a tool to allow adding a computed column to the SharePoint library that acts like the Name column, but contains the value from the Title column (or any other column you specify). 

One drawback is that the name at the top of the form will still be something like 123.xml.  This can be worked around by setting the form title based on content within the form.  You could use the name value from the <QdabraDBXL> processing-instruction in the form xml, or use a field from your schema.

Hi Jim,

 Is your tool available yet? This is also something i would very much like to be able to do with DBXL!

Sorry for the delayed reply, I just got back from vacation.   A few issues to evaluate came up during testing, but I could send you a beta build later this week if you would like to evaluate.