InfoPath Dev

Hi guys,

Until today, I had a browser-enabled, qRules v7.2 injected InfoPath 2010 form. My company has at least temporarily removed the option for the form to be browser-enabled, so I was forced to republish it as in InfoPath Filler 2010 and remove the browser functionality. As a result of doing so, several errors have come up that I have not yet found a solution for, and I would really appreciate any guidance from the experts :)

1. The formatting in Filler appears very funky for some users, and perfectly normal for others. For me, changing from Browser form to Filler had no impact on how the form's text looked. For some users, the font and font size are completely different, usually bigger, so various sections are elongated and the form looks funky.

2. Standard SharePoint alerts for newly added items don't include promoted fields anymore. This was never an issue with the Browser-based form, but with Filler, it seems like the alert fires before the fields are promoted to the SharePoint library. I say this because the promoted fields show up on my daily summary SharePoint alerts correctly, but not in the original new item alert, which just shows a blank XML file without any promoted fields. Updates to existing items also correctly show up in the daily summary, so it's just an issue with alerts for newly created items.

3. Every time a new form version is published, users have to click the Save and Update Form button at the top of the page, highlighted yellow. The full message reads:  UPDATE YOUR FORM.  A new version of this form is available. Save your work and update the form to fill out all required fields." I already have the form properties set to automatically update form version upon form open, but it's not working. Browser forms always automatically updated correctly on form open and this was never an issue. I read online that this is a known problem with InfoPath Filler. Does qRules provide a workaround or is there any other known workaround?

4. If a user is editing a SharePoint form, InfoPath Filler prevents any other user from doing so with a rather vague message simply saying they either don't have permissions or that the form is already being edited. In the Browser based form, it specifically provided the user's information who was editing the form. We never required that forms be checked out, as it's a rather cumbersome process and not user-friendly. I'd rather not require form check out unless there is a way to make it very easy, for example the form automatically checks out upon open. Is there a way to improve form access functionality & messages in Filler?

5. When users submit to the SharePoint form library in InfoPath Filler and there is an error, the error message simply says Some rules were not applied. When Show Details button is clicked, it provides a generic message that some fields have validation errors that are marked with a red asterisk on the form. In the Browser-based form, showing details would list out the exact field and validation's error message that needs to be fixed. I found a workaround online by typing CTRL + SHIFT + O on keyboard, which either takes you to the exact field with the validation error, or, if the error is on a different view, it brings up a dialogue box, which, upon showing details actually tells you the specific field or fields which are in error. While CTRL + SHIFT + O is fantastic, it's still not user friendly and ideally Filler would function more like the Browser form and show the exact validation error(s) in the initial dialogue box users receive upon an unsuccessful submission. FYI:  I'm using a button with rules on it to submit to form library, in case that makes a difference.

For #5 above, I know there are additional workarounds, for example the submit button could have a bunch of rules that recreate the validation in the form and do not submit if the validation is invalid, instead displaying the specific message I want. The problem is that I have hundreds of fields and a LOT of validation, so recreating it all on the submit button is impractical. Browser-based would just show the exact text I typed for each validation rule in the dialogue box, so I'm hoping there's a way to restore that functionality and have it work the same way in Filler.

 

Thank you all in advance for your help! 

 Hi there!

1. This is likely because of IE text settings - if your text settings in IE are not Medium, your form in filler will look wacky. InfoPath uses IE for rendering. I also have my monitor DPI at 125% so have similar issues due to that.

2. Dunno

3. Yup, that is just how caching of forms in Filler works, I'm afraid. Filler caches templates locally and then shows the yellow bar when there is an update. I don't know a way around that.

4. I had never had a browser form give me any warning that someone else had it open - in fact, usually in browser I've found she who saves last wins. In Filler at least you get a popup. We sometimes use SharePoint web services to check out forms on open / check in on close, but then you run into those who close via the application close button so you have forms that are left in a checked out state.

5. Use qRules - GetErrors can return the fields w/ errors and the validation messages. 

Thanks much!

For #5, is there a way to have GetErrors return the fields w/ validation messages in a dialogue box automatically if submit fails, or does it have to be in the Results field on the form itself? Note that my users submit by using a form button, not the submit functionality in the ribbon.

I'd use GetErrorCount to find out if there are errors - if there are, execute GetErrors and don't run any rules after that. Show the result on the form or in a dialog - up to you.

It works and is epic! Thank you :) I may have some more questions about the font size and DPI but will first thoroughly test with users. Thanks as always for your help.