InfoPath Dev

My infopath list is where engineers enter specs and measurements they take at sites twice a year. In subsequent visits to a site the first 25 fields (the specs) are apt to be exactly the same. They've asked about getting those 25 fields populated from the record of the previous visit. If I can get a direction of attack without going down too much of a rabbit hole I might try it. So far I've tried creating a secondary data source to the SAME list, and getting values from a previous record, filtering by the site-date combination which is my title field. I've tried doing this to populate field-default value, control-default value and in 'set a field's value' in form load rules. I go to 'formula' - show fields' advanced view - choose the secondary source - choose the field and filter by title = "Site1 2020-02-07" for instance. So far I have not gotten ANY values to show up. That is a very strong deterrent to any further experimentation. Is creating a secondary data source to the same list impossible? Is it more apt to work if I create a second list, with sites and their specs, as the external data source? Is there a simpler path I should be trying? Thanks

OK, I've got a drop-down list populating from a different list, and rules to set some other fields from that list. (I am so helpless until I write my problem out in your forum.) So I guess my engineers will have to set the specs for each site in the secondary list, if they want it to populate their main list. I wish I had a way to populate (update) the secondary list from entrees in the main list (for instance if one of the spec changes). Thanks

These are different fields? You are using list forms? Just add a data connection to the same list, and set it to not query when the form opens. Sort the data by Modified desc. Then when the user enters a site, set the site query field to the requested site and execute the query. Use rules to set your current fields from the 2DS fields.

Thanks Hilary, I am a bit new to SharePoint, and so a little lost in the lingo here. Currently my main list (siteVisits) has its drop-down list for 'site', and some 'siteParamaters' fields populated from a secondary list (siteSpecs), via a secondary data connection. The siteParameter fields values are set by rules when the drop-down control changes. Would your solution give me a way to update the secondary list from changes in the parameters in the main list? gran

No. You will not be able to update one list from another list form using out of the box InfoPath and SharePoint List functionality. I may have misunderstood your question. I thought you were asking if you could populate the form with the most recent saved values.

Yes, if I can populate from the same list, without using a second one, that will be best. In my trial I wasn't able to get any data with simple rules. I'll try using the query fields, which I'm just beginning to understand. Where would I set to sort by Modified desc, in the all items view?

OK,I dragged the new connection (to the same [main] list) fields onto the form in a repeating table, with a query field and a query button and all works, sorted by Modified desc. However it produces duplicate rows for the same site (since multiple exist). How do I get just the MOST RECENT row, from Site-A?

So - the most recent row is the first one. In InfoPath, if we select a field from a repeating data source, it is by default going to return the first value - that's why I had you sort desc. :-) You can also just index the XPath if need be - select the field using the field picker, in the formula editor tick the box to show the XPath and put [1] after the repeating node.

It looks like I can set a query field, query the DS2 and then set a different query field and query again - further refining the data. So after getting the Site-A records set DS2 query field "ID" to DS2 data field max(ID), getting the latest of the site-A entrees - does that sound right?

Sure, you could. I wouldn't - but I'm guessing you were posting this as I was posting my reply.

Yes our posts did cross. I see that I am able to populate fields from the top repeating row without isolating the row. It looks like I'm on my way. I learned a lot today. Thanks, gran

So there are a few behaviors in InfoPath that I don't find intuitive - but that we can sometimes leverage to our advantage. This is one - if you don't specify the row with an index or XPath filter, you get the first value. The second is that if you set a field inside a repeating node from outside (i.e., you have a button at the top of your form not in a repeating section bound to the node) you will set all instances of the node. Glad you are forging ahead!