InfoPath Dev

I have a question if this is possible to do in qRules.

I have a form that will need to attach more than one file based on an item.

For example one of our training activities that an employee attends will require more than one supporting document for each activity. So what I am trying to achieve in InfoPath is to show the url of each document once it is submitted, however every time I click to attach a document the url is replaced with the most recent file added. However each of the documents is being submitted to SharePoint correctly it’s just not repeating in that cell.

 So will the form work correctly if I put a repeating section area within a cell of a repeating table, or is there a better way to handle this.

Doug

I can't say I've tried this, but it sounds like an interesting way to use qRules. So you essentially want your form to store a history of the uploaded documents, correct?

ErnestoM:

I can't say I've tried this, but it sounds like an interesting way to use qRules. So you essentially want your form to store a history of the uploaded documents, correct?

I guess history would be a good way of explaining it. Since our form will be accessed by several people through its life cycle of tracking the training activity's of one product. Members of the approval process will need to review the attached documents  through this process. Once the form has been completed it will need to be accessed from time to time so the link back to all the attached documents will need to be visible.

I triesd doing a repeating region within a cell of a repeating table but the end results were the same. So I figured I would just filter the documebnt library based on the submitted criteria to work around this issue. However the sharepoint library holding the documents has nothing usefull to filter on except the user name.

Without a qRules code change is there a way to acheive this out of the box?

Doug

Hi Doug, I gave this a try this morning, but I couldn't get a historical section working. I'm attaching what I have so far...

Maybe we could add a rule that copies the previous image link to another table (a "history" table). Any ideas?

ErnestoM:

Hi Doug, I gave this a try this morning, but I couldn't get a historical section working. I'm attaching what I have so far...

Maybe we could add a rule that copies the previous image link to another table (a "history" table). Any ideas?

Yea I would think having another table that would hold the history should work.

Doug 

 Ernesto,

 Do you possibly have another example of what you were sugestting regarding the History table?

Doug

Hi Doug,

This should definitely be doable. qRules is kind of irrelevant though since it supports uploading images and converting them into links. You just need to get your InfoPath form to manage the subsequent attachments using some business logic to prevent deleting prior attachments and keep track of where in the repeating table the new one gets added. Also, you'll probably want to display the items in reverse order in your repeating table. I recommend using the qRules sort command to descend sort based on date/time of attachment.

If you get this working, let us know and we'll give you a complementary BASIC version of our award-winning Web Service Suite. If you want us to spend an hour on it, it will likely take a week or so since we're busy with other stuff now, but do let us know and we'll get back to it eventually.

Happy trails!

Patrick Halstead:

Hi Doug,

This should definitely be doable. qRules is kind of irrelevant though since it supports uploading images and converting them into links. You just need to get your InfoPath form to manage the subsequent attachments using some business logic to prevent deleting prior attachments and keep track of where in the repeating table the new one gets added. Also, you'll probably want to display the items in reverse order in your repeating table. I recommend using the qRules sort command to descend sort based on date/time of attachment.

If you get this working, let us know and we'll give you a complementary BASIC version of our award-winning Web Service Suite. If you want us to spend an hour on it, it will likely take a week or so since we're busy with other stuff now, but do let us know and we'll get back to it eventually.

Happy trails!

Patrick,

Even though I am learning InfoPath at an alarming pace due to necessity, and I would love to get a copy of your web service this may be above me at the moment. What I have tried so far which I assumed it would work flawlessly errors out.

What I did was to copy the Demo2 example from the video to where I added a second rule to the submit to SharePoint command so that once you click it it would upload the file and then submit the results from the the URL field on the qRules save toSharePoint to another field in a repeating region. However I am supressed by an error telling me how to format my command for CopyTable. Form what I can tell my formating is correct... CopyTable /rowsrc=/my:myFields/my:group1/my:group2/my:File/@my:qRulesLink/rowdest=/my:myFields/my:group32/my:Attachment/empty=no.

Am I approaching how to do this correctly or have I ventured down the wrong path.

Doug

Hey Doug,

This is something I thought about as well. The problem is that CopyTable does not (yet) handle attributes. We've listed it as a feature but don't have an estimate on when it will be ready.

ErnestoM:

Hey Doug,

This is something I thought about as well. The problem is that CopyTable does not (yet) handle attributes. We've listed it as a feature but don't have an estimate on when it will be ready.

So I am assuming that the URL saved in the text box from qRules is an attribute?

Doug

Hey Doug, good news. qRules v1.7 now supports attributes! http://www.qdabra.com/en/products/qRules.aspx

I have tested and confirmed this by using a SharePoint list as a secondary data source and copying my repeating table from SharePoint to a repeating table in my InfoPath main data source.  Works like a charm and allows for a snapshot of my repeating data at a point in time.  This is useful for my meeting minutes forms so that I can see tasks as they were at the time the meeting occurred.

Great job, Qdabra!