InfoPath Dev

I've searched the forums and, while some questions talk about this same issue, I don't think any of them provide an answer for this situation.

I'm in the process of creating a no-code InfoPath 2007 form to serve as a custom edit form for a SharePoint list.  The target list has several columns, some of which are multiline fields.

In the InfoPath form I've created two data connections: one to the SharePoint list and one to an XML view of the same list.  The first connection works well, but I can only choose to display non-multiline fields.  Any multline field simply isn't available in the connection configuration wizard.

I began to set up the second connection following a walkthrough provided on this site, but the instructions seem to require qRules to be in place, which isn't the case for me.  As part of the instructions I point to a link I've provided in the connection ([site address]/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?Cmd=Display&List={List GUID}&XMLDATA=TRUE); the resulting XML shows all fields, to include the contents of the multiline fields, but when I try to use that XML to fill the desired field in the form, nothing appears.

If it helps, here's my setup on the field in question:

1) There's a dropdown list (ddlProgramName) that contains all the list item titles.  When the user selects one of these all the other fields on the form are supposed to fill in with the correct data from the list.  This currently works for all but multiline fields.

2) On ddlProgramName I have a rule that tries to fill the field (rtfOverallStatus) with the contents of the XML data connection.  In the field setup, I have rtfOverallStatus as the field and the value is @ows_Notes[@ows_ID=txtId].  That is, I'm trying to filter @ows_Notes so I can only see the one where the current item's ID matches the field stored in a hidden control.

3) The autogenerated XPath is xdXDocument:GetDOM("Org_Xml")/xml/rs:data/z:row/@ows_Notes[../@ows_ID = xdXDocument:get-DOM()/my:myFields/my:txtId].

I've tried using the XML connection to populate a test field with a non-multiline field and nothing showed there either, so I'm wondering if there's a problem with how the XML is formed, or in how I'm asking InfoPath to interact with it-- which is entirely likely.

I'll definitely appreciate any help this expert InfoPath community can provide to get this figured out.

Update: I created a brand new form, only created the XML data connection, and added two test fields-- one to contain the list title and one to contain the contents of a multiline field. Using this approach I got multiline text to return from the XML, although HTML tags aren't formatted, so the text still needs some work. The good news is that the form is returning *anything* at all in the field though, and I'm confident I can get the rest figured out.