InfoPath Dev

 I have created a form for returning deployers that requests their experience.  The employees are writing small novels in this space and so when we print out the form for the placement boards to try and decide where to put them on their return, they cant see half of the experience.  I want to limit how much they can put into this block.  I have already tried to limit the number of characters but this does not have the desired outcome.  What I really need to do is limit the number of lines that they put into the multiline textbox.  Is there any way to do this?  Maybe with a validation rule?

Is this rich text? or plain text? I'm curious why the character limit isn't providing the desired outcome.... validation rules can use regular expressions, so there may be a way to do it with validation.

 This is plain text. limiting characters allows too many variable's.

 the goal is to prevent them adding so much text that it establishes a scroll bar.  because when I print the filled in form to be viewed by my bosses, text boxes that have the scroll bar will only print out the text that is on the screen when I hit print. 

say I set the number of characters to 1000. 1000, lower case i's takes up a lot less space then 1000 uppercase W's so depending on the number of uppercase letters they use alters the space that their input takes up.  also carriage returns... if they hit enter twice, they may have only used 100 characters but they will already have caused the text to run outside of the space that I would like to limit, creating a scroll bar on the side.  I hope I am making sense. 

I understand now - thanks. Is this a browser form or a filler form?

 It is a browser form

When your users fill out the form, do they do it in a web browser? Or does the form open up in InfoPath on their desktop?

 Ok, it is definitely a browser form

So - here are the complications I can see. Even if we could validate on a line break character (which may be possible) - we won't have one where the line has merely wrapped. In Filler, we can set text boxes to expand to show all content - that doesn't work in the browser. I'd suggest adding a print view, where you use a calculated value to show the entered text - that will expand to show all. Then when you need to print, switch to that view first....

I know how to do another view, but how would I set "a calculated value to show the entered text - that will expand to show all"?

When you add a calculated value control you can pick the field (or formula) to display. The calculated value control will show all the text, I believe - you should be able to just leave the height at auto.

 could I just set the "calculated value" that expands the field as it is filled on my already established view?

Sure. Users can't type in a calculated value control, so you'd have to leave the text box too.

 Ms. Stoupa,

I think this will work.  Thank you very much for the help on this.

one last question, do you know of a way for me to quickly recreate my form from default into my new print view?  Then I can go through and just change all of the control types from "text boxes" to "calculated value" 

In your current view, select everything (CTRL a to select all) then copy it (CTRL c). Click in your new view and paste (CTRL v). You can then right click the text boxes and use the change control option from the context menu.

 ma'am,

 you are a rock-star!

I know I said one last question, but now I have some more questions,

How can I test this?  I go into preview, but there is no option to switch views in preview.