Newbie Questions

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

texastwo — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:06:31 GMT

Jimmy,

thanks for the post. I beleive this is what i'm looking for. Not to insult you but can you explain the syntax or break the formula down a bit. I am trying to use it verbaium by changing the "jobid" to a valid lib that i have etc. I cant get the formula to verify?

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

ricomarcelo — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:58:39 GMT

Thanks for replying Jimmy. It helped me a lot.

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

Jimmy — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:26:59 GMT

Just use the same idea as the one above, except instead of putting the formula in an expression box, put it in the Default Value property of the fields you want to populate. Remember to check "Update this field when the value of this formula changes" and you're all set.

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

ricomarcelo — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:01:08 GMT

Hi Everybody,

I'm new to InfoPath and I have a requirement very similar to what is being discussed here. However, my requirement is to populate 3 textboxes instead of an expression box based on what is selected in the drop-down list box. My drop-down list box is bound to a secondary table (ClassTable) with the following fields:

ClassID, ClassName, CapLimit, NumYears and Rate

So I assigned ClassID as the drop-down list box's "Value" and ClassName as the "Display Name". Now what I need is to put the corresponding values for CapLimit, NumYears and Rate to their respective textboxes upon selecting an item on the drop-down list box.

Is this even possible with InfoPath? Should I resort to coding in JScript? If not maybe in C#? If so, can anybody show me how to accomplish this?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks........ and Merry Christmas to Everyone!

- Ric

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

All In The Mind — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:29:58 GMT

Wow dude ! You're the man. Thanks.

That sample you sent was exactly what I was trying to accomplish. The error messages I was getting just weren't helping me. Thanks, I really appreciate it - how long have you been working on this ?

I think I'll learn a lot from this site. Any pointers on learning InfoPath ?

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

Jimmy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:22:13 GMT

I'm not really sure what you're saying, but I assure you this is entirely possible and something that I do all the time. Please see the attached XSN.

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

All In The Mind — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:56:33 GMT

Jimmy:
You should be able to use current()/my:ID (or whatever the field is called) to reference the ID in the same row as the expression box.

Except that it's in the context of the other data source instead of the repeating row so I get an error message when I try to use current. It's as if I try to XPath into the secondary data source while in the context of a repeating table inside the main datasource, while at the the same time trying to use current()/my:ID (from the main datasource) as node-test to target that element in the secondary data source...

It was just a sample to try and learn infopath more so I'm going to change the repeating table to a regular table and skip the headache but again - Thanks.

I'll have to try to actually learn XPath.

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

Jimmy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:35:19 GMT

You should be able to use current()/my:ID (or whatever the field is called) to reference the ID in the same row as the expression box.

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

All In The Mind — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:09:56 GMT

In a repeating table, if I used an Expression field in the 2nd column, how would I reference the ID selected in the 1st column ?

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

Jimmy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:05:43 GMT

It sounds like you should be using an Expression Box to show the description instead of a Text Box. This will save you from adding a field to your main data source to hold the value. Since your data is repeating, you'll also need to use the current() function when setting up your expression, but it sounds like you may have figured that out already. If you get stuck on that part, attach screenshots of your main and secondary data source, and I can show you how to construct the function.

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

All In The Mind — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:49:17 GMT

Thanks Jimmy.

I've been stuck on this for hours ! I have a repeating table with 3 columns like this:

Job ID	Job Description	Apply
00010002
00010002
Apply to more positions

The jobs are stored in a secondary data source. The desired functionality is when the user selects a Job ID in the first column, the textarea in the second column shows the description of the job.

Using Jimmy's post, I was able to bind an expression field to the Job Description by way of adding an extra field to the main data source, etc.... etc.... but I know there has to be an easier way than my implementation. How to tie the description box to the description field of the element selected by the ID field of that row ?

This isn't to hijack the thread but any advice on how this works will be greatly appreciated !

The secondary data source looks like this:

<Positions>

<Position JobId="0001" JobDescription="Do some work"/>

<Position JobId="0002" JobDescription="Do some other work"/>

</Positions>

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

bella — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:34:46 GMT

Cant find how to delete my initial post, I managed to figure out the formula on my own.

thanks,

bella

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

Samir Farid — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:05:42 GMT

Hi Mark,

After having a look at your screenshots, the formula should be:

xdXDocument:GetDOM("Disposal_Matrix")/dfs:myFields/dfs:dataFields/d:Disposal_Matrix[@Disposal_ID = xdXDocument:get-DOM()/dfs:myFields/dfs:dataFields/d:Roll_off_Zones/@Disposal_Site]/@Disposal_Cost

Hope it helps

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

mbrady1973 — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:15:40 GMT

I cannot figure out how to post a screenshot in this forum....Boy, am I helpless!!!

Re: Populate Expression based on a dropdown selection

Samir Farid — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:20:16 GMT

Could you post screenshots of both your Main Data Source and Secondary Data Source, so I can verify the formula?

Please Expand all nodes when taking the screenshot