InfoPath Dev

Just back from the Master Class and I am trying to implement some Input Parameters. I am using InfoPath 2007, MOSS and VB

I have created a form, Candidate Evaluations and published it to a sharepoint site.  It has the following code

Public Sub FormEvents_Loading(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As LoadingEventArgs)
' Write your code here.
'Try
Dim VacIDin As String = "9999"
Dim VacParam As Boolean = e.InputParameters.TryGetValue("VacID", VacIDin)
Dim Candidatein As String = "aaaaaa"
Dim CandidateParam As Boolean = e.InputParameters.TryGetValue("CandName", Candidatein)
Dim VacancyIDfield As XPathNavigator = Me.CreateNavigator.SelectSingleNode("/my:myFields/my:FormFieldsGroup/my:VacancyID", NamespaceManager)
Dim CandidateName As XPathNavigator = Me.CreateNavigator.SelectSingleNode("/my:myFields/my:EvaluationFormGroup/my:CandidateName", NamespaceManager)
If VacParam = True Then
VacancyIDfield.SetValue(VacIDin)
End If
If CandidateParam = True Then
CandidateName.SetValue(Candidatein)
End If
'Catch ex As Exception
'End Try
End Sub

From another form I use the following URL  http://in/hr/ATS/Candidate Evaluations/Forms/template.xsn?VacID=2&CandName=john doe

The form opens but my values have not been passed in.  What else do I need to do ?  How can I debug using these input parameters ?  I don't know where it is failing. 

Thank you

Catharine

Hi, Catharine:

If you uncomment your try/catch, and add a message box to show the error caught (MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)), do you get an error?

If you try opening the form from a file location (like a local folder) using the command line with the /Input Parameters switch, do you have different results? (This link has more info on the command line).

I'm more familiar with C# than VB -- but I'm a little confused by your code. When I've seen the TryGetValue method used in other samples, it uses the C# keyword out to set a variable value, so:

string vacID = string.Empty;

e.InputParameters.TryGetValue("VacID", out vacID);

would be used to set the value of the string variable vacID. I'm not sure if VB has similar functionality. To get the value of an input parameter, you can use:

Dim VacIDin As String = e.InputParameters("VacID")

I have changed to

' Write your code here.
Try
Dim VacIDin As String = e.InputParameters("VacID")
MessageBox.Show(VacIDin)
'Dim VacParam As Boolean = e.InputParameters.TryGetValue("VacID", VacIDin)
Dim Candidatein As String = e.InputParameters("CandName")
MessageBox.Show(Candidatein)
'Dim CandidateParam As Boolean = e.InputParameters.TryGetValue("CandName", Candidatein)
Dim VacancyIDfield As XPathNavigator = Me.CreateNavigator.SelectSingleNode("/my:myFields/my:FormFieldsGroup/my:VacancyID", NamespaceManager)
Dim CandidateName As XPathNavigator = Me.CreateNavigator.SelectSingleNode("/my:myFields/my:EvaluationFormGroup/my:CandidateName", NamespaceManager)
'If VacParam = True Then
VacancyIDfield.SetValue(VacIDin)
'End If
'If CandidateParam = True Then
CandidateName.SetValue(Candidatein)
'End If
Catch ex As Exception
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
End Try
End Sub

and I get the error - The given key was not present in the dictionary. 

Do you get the error when you use the command line input parameters switch?

No I am trying to call it with parameters from sharepoint using  http://invistanet-eur/hr/ATS/Candidate Evaluations/Forms/template.xsn?VacID=1&CandName=john doe 

Right, I understand that. I was just thinking for troubleshooting, that I'd try to save the form locally and use the input parameters from the command line to see if it worked.

Sorry I misunderstood - yes I get the error message when using the command line.  I don't find using the command line as easy as using parameters and the URL.

I guess I find it a bit easier for troubleshooting, because I don't have to publish the form out after making changes. Well, the error is basically saying that you are asking for an input parameter in your code that you aren't providing when you open the form. From the command line, you need to be sure to have a space after infopath.exe, the form path, the /Input Parameters switch and the parameters, so each item is space delimited.

infopath.exe "C:\template.xsn" /InputParameters "VacID=23&CandName=John Doe"

Since you are getting your error prior to any message showing the parameter value, we know that the code is failing on the first line. Perhaps try simplifying even further and only have one input parameter to start with?

I have changed the code to be....

' Write your code here.

Try

'Dim VacParam As Boolean = e.InputParameters.TryGetValue("VacID", VacIDin)

'Dim Candidatein As String = e.InputParameters("CandName")

'MessageBox.Show(Candidatein)

''Dim CandidateParam As Boolean = e.InputParameters.TryGetValue("CandName", Candidatein)

'Dim CandidateName As XPathNavigator = Me.CreateNavigator.SelectSingleNode("/my:myFields/my:EvaluationFormGroup/my:CandidateName", NamespaceManager)

''If VacParam = True Then

''End If

''If CandidateParam = True Then

'CandidateName.SetValue(Candidatein)

''End If

End Try

When I call this from my SharePoint using http://invistanet-eur/hr/ATS/Candidate%20Evaluations/Forms/template.xsn?VacID=2

I get the error message the Given key is not in the directory

When I call this from the command line using infopath.exe c:\candidateevaluation.xsn /inputparameters Vacid=2

I get the message 2 followed by the Given key is not in the directory - no other message boxes appear

It turns out that when we use a URL to open the form and pass in input parameters, the parameter key passed in is changed to lower case. So, for example, if you use "VacID" as the parameter key in your Loading event, and "VacID" as the query parameter in your hyperlink, the Loading event actually receives "vacid" and will return a "given key not in dictionary" error.

When we changed the Loading event code to use "vacid" as the key, the query parameter in the hyperlink could be "VacID" or "vacid" (or any other combination of upper and lower case) and the key was found.

This will also probably affect the candiate name. "John Doe" will be changed to "john%20doe" and you'll need to handle for that in your code, using string functions like Replace to change %20 back to spaces, and VbStrConv.ProperCase to set the first letters of each word back to a capital letter