InfoPath Dev

Hi all, long time viewer of the site but first time poster.  I am having a bit of an issue (well not an issue really, im just stuck and not sure how to properly get this view working) and really could use a hand :)

Ok so a bit of background is that I am creating a new user authorisation form for our department. Form has been setup and it is being posted to a sharepoint document library list.

The steps involved are:

1. Business fills out the form

2. Form goes to IT to carry out request

3. IT are required to stamp request with date and person once work is complete

4. Approve etc

Seems easy in theory but I cannot get this process flowing thru the infopath form the way I want to. I am stuck allowing further adjustments to the form once it has been submitted by the business. I have set it up with 2 views at present, an Authorisation stage and a view stage with rules surrounding these procedures. Once the user submits the form, the view stage is displayed in the document library list and that is where no further adjustments can be made. These have been set up under custom rules on the submit button action and open/save with a field named isSubmitted.

In this instance, am I required to create another view here in between the two views so the guys can stamp the form and then amend the xml document in the library? If so, how do I set it up to amend the initial xml document? Does it do it automatically here? I dont want another document created once they make their changes.

And I want to hide the IT information from the initial screen, how do I go about hiding them from one view and displaying them in the other? I had a look under conditional formatting and could hide it in the initial form, but could not get it to show on the other form.

I hope this makes sense guys... any help is really appreciated

Thanks

Hi DSanchez,

In order to get the section to show up on the other view, you will need to either copy it from the first view (select and copy, ctrl-c) to the second view (switch to view, place cursor where you want it and ctrl-v to paste it). Make sure you modify the conditions when you do that so that it shows up by default.

You don't absolutely need more than two views for this form - one view can be for filling it out (step 1) and another for stamp and approve (steps 3 and 4). If the initial user reopens the form, you can send them back to view 1 and disable submit, or you could create a third view that is read-only for them and navigate to that to reduce confusion since with editable fields they may mistakenly think they can edit the form.

Regarding the open and save. If you have disabled Save and are using a Submit button to send the form to SharePoint you will need make sure you check the SharePoint submit data connection to make sure that the form can be overwritten which is what you want. Then, just make sure the filename you are using doesn't change. You might have to cache the created version of the filename in the main data source if it is something that is created on the first submit just set the value before finishing the first submit and use the field as the filename in the submit data connection where it asks for filename.

Hope that helps a little....

Thanks for your response Patrick... i have some questions below :)

Patrick Halstead:

In order to get the section to show up on the other view, you will need to either copy it from the first view (select and copy, ctrl-c) to the second view (switch to view, place cursor where you want it and ctrl-v to paste it). Make sure you modify the conditions when you do that so that it shows up by default

yep thats how I created the 2nd view, all I did was remove the submit form button on the request view (which is default). Not really sure though how the whole default view thing works though? Which conditions though do you mean though that I should modify? I have left them the same as the other view, I presume this is not correct?

Patrick Halstead:

If the initial user reopens the form, you can send them back to view 1 and disable submit

i believe that is what I have done, but I am not too sure how to be able to allow further modification done to this form to allow the last modifications. How can I hide the submit button and enable the other button to confirm the changes have been made by the IT department?

If you could post some steps as to how I could do what you mentioned it would greattttly be appreciated

Hi guys.. could anyone help me with the above please... I'm really at wits end here and could do with some assistance

Hi Patrick,

Could you please explain how to achieve:

"If the initail user reopens the form, you can send back to view 1 and disable submit." Which rule should I apply?

Thanks

 Sorry for the delay. I had to make a short trip to the other side of the galaxy to discuss the state of the humans with my manager...

1. If you copied the view (including the Submit button) then you can just remove the Submit button as you have and that means you don't need conditions on it. The default view is what opens by default. To switch to the other view go to Data->Form Load and create a rule with a condition that switches to the new view on load. The condition should be something that compares a field in your form against a value, for example: "if IsSubmitted is true" with an action to switch to the new view.
2. Just add two buttons and put a Formatting rule on them to "hide" the IT "Confirm" button if the form is opened by a non IT person. If you're using the InfoPath filler you can use User Roles. Clayton Cobb also has a neat little blog on how to use UserRoles in the browser. You can just call the UserProfileService to get the identity/group of the user who is logged in and use that in the condition for your rule. OR, you can use some value from within the form but that won't differ between submitter/IT so you probably need some kind of user role or info from active directory (ala UserProfileService). Or, here's a simple idea: just store the username of the person submitting the form and compare it on open. If the current user is the same as the stored value, you know they're the submitter and you can use that fact to hide the IT "Confirm" button and vice versa for the IT warlords.

Praying for the rapid increase of synaptic connections in your InfoPath cortex...

(I'm assuming IP2010 UI above)

Hi "As In 052" and Velkommen to the wonderful world of rulez. To switch a view you want to simply choose an action rule where the action is "Switch View". Easy as ice cream melting on a freshly baked pie ...

I'm pulling my hair out trying to switch views. I placed a rule on my submit button that changes it to a new view witch is set with read only fields. When preview it works great but once it's uploaded on share piont it don't work.

Basic of my form:

1. When doing the new documet I fill in half the sheet, once its submitted my information needs to be read only but others can fill in the rest of the form.

Any help would be much great full.

Right click the button and select properties. Click Browser tab and set it to "Always" post back. Republish and see if that works.