Newbie Questions

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

nader.araj — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:50:24 GMT

I suspected it was a SQL thing. I don't have the same problem when I use Access. The prob is that Access is not a very good dbase for network usage.

I will give it a go. Thanks for all your help Patrick.

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Patrick Halstead — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 03:59:27 GMT

Hi again,

Unfortunately, this is one of the problems of using InfoPath's built-in SQL functionality. It limits you to the datatypes that map to SQL. After you have created the form, it won't go out and try to determine the data types again. You have to recreate the form from the SQL database. But, even then, the datatypes don't match up perfectly (for example, you can't have rich text nodes or images without writing code). This isn't the only limitation with InfoPath's default SQL data connection. In fact, there are many. When you need to change your form or database, it is very painful because you essentially have to recreate your form every time something changes. You can't just add a new node to your main data source.

Reading back in this post, it seems like there are two distinct issues - the issue that you and travisBickle have is related to the hard-binding between your database and the InfoPath form. You really have only one good option here and that's what travisBickle mentioned:

Use a Web service in between SQL and your InfoPath form. If you don't have time to "age 10 years" as travisBickle mentioned, we have developed a Web service suite already that you can use to quickly solve your problem. Download the free dev edition here. You will have to create your form again using an true XML schema - just start InfoPath, choose Design a Form Template and select a Blank form. Click on Data Source, select myFields, and add the fields and groups based on your form's needs. Open your old form and click in the view. Press ctrl-a to select all controls and then ctrl-c to copy them to the clipboard. Switch to your new form. Click on the view and press ctrl-v to paste the view into this new form. Next, go around to all of the fields, right clicking and changing binding. That should take about 30 minutes or so but depends on how big your view is. After that laborious re-bind you will never have to re-design your form again and you will be able to change the binding of any and all fields to point at whatever node and data types you want. Publish the new form to your database using the DBXL Admin Tool (see the Getting Started notes). Add a submit data connection to the form (See Getting Started again). After you have confirmed that the data is submitting correctly to your database you can create a mapping for your document type (ala XSN). In DBXL Admin Tool just click on Edit, add the datasource string, save and switch to the Mapping tab. This is all described in a document on how to do mapping. Anyway, since your mapping is independent of the submit, changes to your form or database won't affect the submit process and you can add nodes to your form whenver you want. This gives you the freedom you need. Compare to the direct-mapping of the built in SQL connection and you will save countless hours and headaches down the road.

Good luck!

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

nader.araj — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 01:21:33 GMT

Hi Patrick,

Yes it is. I have changed field type in the SQL table to a number of different options in hopes it would fix the prob. No luck.

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Patrick Halstead — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 00:05:26 GMT

Hi nader.araj,

Is the main data source connected to a SQL database?

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

nader.araj — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 18:31:19 GMT

I know this is an old problem for you but I just ran in to it. I am trying to understand what you are saying the fix is for this problem. Do you change the data type in infopath? Because My data type is greyed out as well.

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Michael71 — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:07:33 GMT

Yes Stavi, what do you think is the problem

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Stavi — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:26:46 GMT

i think i see what you mean now, you should be able to display that how you want

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Michael71 — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 17:40:25 GMT

I choose decimal data type with precision 18...scale 2
I want $12,000 to go in there. Right Now I can't format it.

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Stavi — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 17:22:30 GMT

ok, what sort of text is in the box and what formatting do you want to do to it?

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Michael71 — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:49:22 GMT

How can I solve my problem with the text box?

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

travisBickle — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:14:38 GMT

I think i've solved my problem, however aged ten years in the process.

I have Rich Text Fields which must post and retrieve from SQLServer. I've had to store the text as xmlstring in SQL Server.

Create a webservice which accepts and returns XMLNodes.

Then had to create a temp node to stored the returned xmlstring and then append to the actual rich text box. Otherwise the formatting would be greyed out.

In Summary, i hate infopath.

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Michael71 — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:55:49 GMT

travisBickle,

I think I figured out the problem. We are selecting the wrong data type from the database or webservice. When I tried to change the data type on another of my controls it became grayed out as well. Then I changed the data type back, it became un-greyed out

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Stavi — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:54:29 GMT

for text boxes containg number fields you have to open it's properties and click format to change format

for text boxes containg text fieild you have to use formatting tool bar like you would in word to change format

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Michael71 — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:41:02 GMT

Stavi,
We are talking about in design mode. It will not format in design mode. You thought we were talking about when we were using it?

Re: Format in the Text box properties is dormant

Stavi — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:39:35 GMT

yes as per the web page i posted, you have to use a web server to convert rich text into a blob field if you want to store it in a oracle database, i think sql version is binary but i dont know for sure