InfoPath Dev

Hello,

I have an InfoPath form that posts back to a SharePoint form library. The form has several sets of option buttons which I have manually populated, and I've changed their values from the default 1,2,3 etc. to more meaningful text, as the value is what shows up back in the SharePoint form library. However, I also need to be able to do a calculation in SharePoint based on the selected values of the option button groups, so I need a way to associate the default number values (that I just got rid of) with each option as well. Does anyone have any suggestions for the best way to go about this?

Thanks very much!
Anna

Off the top of my head here--don't know if this is even possible....

Perhaps you can create a custom SP list which has the number associated with each text string, and then use that list in your calculations.

Wow, it may not even be possible? I really hope that isn't the case - it's a pretty crucial part of my project. Does anyone have any suggestions for how this might be done?

Thanks!
Anna

It's possible, it's just not best practice to do it the way that you are doing it now. You should change it to the following schema and you'll be much better off:

1) Create a secondary data source and then populate the drop-down by using this HowTo:http://infopathdev.com/howto/tutorials/default.aspx?i=7f693c75c5c94604b01bdfd3a1edaedc
2) Be sure to make the drop-down retain the ID value from the secondary list, and not the display name
3) If you want to show the display name in SharePoint create a new node in the same group that the drop-down is in and called it "DisplayName" or something, and populate it via instructrions found in this HowTo:http://infopathdev.com/howto/tutorials/default.aspx?i=9111ef580f95479890fc18fb2c5bac85
4) Now you can perform whatever calculations you want with the mapping described in the secondary data source

I hope this helps, good luck!

Thanks for jumping in here Matt!