InfoPath Dev

This has got to be a common thing but I've not seen it.  

We have a variety of accounting forms that need multiple approvals.   Expense, Check...      So the infopath form currently uses the GetCommonManager to bring the the mangers name.   But we also need a higher approver if the manager doesnt have the spening limit authority to approve.

Does anyone know how to pull in the manager's manager and their spending limits into fields?

User: Joe                    Spending limit:    100
Manager: Mike            Spending limit:     xxx
Secondary: xxxx         Spending limit:     xxx

how are the xxx brought in?

Hope that was clear enough.
Thanks,

If you've been able to create a data connection and rules to bring in the User and his spending limit, then you just need to repeat this to get the others.

You'll have actions that do the following:

1. When form loads, get the user
   
2. using the username that was retrieved, get his/her spending limit
3. then, an action takes the user and locates the manager (this is where you are now)
   
4. add an action that takes the manager's username and retrieves the spending limit (this is similar to #2)
5. using the manager's username, get the manager's manager (this is similar to #3)
6. add another action that takes the secondary manager's username and retrieves the spending limit (similar to #2 and #4).

So it's a rule, that executes on load, where the result of one action cascades into the next action and so on.

Does this shed some light on the situation?

hmmmm...

Using the GetCommonManager, I pull in the manager, but how does the action pull the manager's manager?  In the action Value field I need to insert a value... but how does that value reference the manager?

You can see where I'm stuck:   http://s881.photobucket.com/albums/ac16/claydevin/?action=view&current=escalated_pic.png

Well, you have to execute two data connections to GetCommonManager

1. GetCommonManager of the user1. This yields manager1. manager1 becomes the input for the next step.

2. GetCommonManager of the manager1. This yields manager2.

You can't accomplish this with one action; you'll need a series of actions chained one after the next. Does that make sense?

We created a second data connection.   get common manager 2.  

Where do we specify using the manager1 rather than user1 to look up the manager1's manager.

----

On another note, is there a better way to do this?  tapping into the organization profile heirarchy?  

I think it's pretty straightforward:

• GetCommonManager1 uses user1 as the input.
• The result is manager1, which you store in a field.
• Then call GetCommonManager2, which uses manager1 as the input.
• The result is manager2.
  

What exactly is your question? Can you post a screenshot (using the Options tab when you reply) to clarify where you are stuck? Thanks.

Ok, getting desperate...  The screen shots below outline what I'm trying to do.   

I cant get my manager's manager to populate in the "If Escalated" view.  nor his spending limit 

 This is the approval layout:

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac16/claydevin/Work/infopathApproval.png

This is the Get Common Manager field I'm trying pull in. 

http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac16/claydevin/Work/infopathApproval2.png

 

 

 

From the screenshot it looks like you're doing this via the field's default value. Is this correct?

You'll have to set up rules, because obtaining the manager's manager depends on previous actions. I enumerated those actions in my post from 6/25.