Re: Need to create drop down menus that change depending on other drop down menus (and auto fill other fields)

Krusty — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:00:13 GMT

Ahh, I figured it out. The problem was that, in Infopath 2007, I left a checkbox checked when I created my template that allowed it to be used as a web form. By leaving that checkbox checked, it prevented me from being able to filter out the data in my dropdown menus. With that ability to filter, I'm able to get only the items I want. I still haven't made it to trying to autofill everything else, but I think I can do that by leaving all my fields as "lists" that get filtered down to the one item needed.

Need to create drop down menus that change depending on other drop down menus (and auto fill other fields)

Krusty — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:36:29 GMT

Edit: Removed the snippits of XML code since it was parsing badly in the forum post. Instead, I have attached my current XML file.
Double edit: Make sure to open the XML up in an XML viewer. Apparently it lost all the pretty formatting when I uploaded it

I'm horribly new to Infopath. I'm trying to create a new hire form for my company that auto populates with all the data you need based on a couple of selections. I was trying to do this in Excel, but I wasn't able to create drop down menus while connecting to a file sitting on a server, so I am now trying to use Infopath.

I already converted all my excel data to an XML file. I can change the formatting easy since I just coded a function in excel that outputs the data, so I can just change the function.

Basically, I need first for the user to select a team from a list. Lets say it's "Team 1" through "Team 5," all of which are pulled from an XML file (so I can update the teams).

Once the user has selected a team, there is another field with a drop down menu that will change depending on the team. Lets say "Team 1" has subteams A, B, and C but Team 5 has subteams C, D, and E. I want only A, B, and C to show up if "Team 1" is selected (and, of course, the associated subteams to show up for each other team).

Once I have the main team and the subteam selected, I want a bunch of other fields with system specs to auto populate with information, but I haven't even reached that point yet.

Here's a snippit of my XML file which I'm using. As you can see, there are more than one subteams for each team. Team 1 in this example has "design" and "production". Team 3 has "animation" and "concept art."

Basically, I want the user to fill in 2 bits of information and then have infopath autofill everything else for the associated "spec". I can't seem to find anything that will allow me to do that. Should I be looking at a particular means of coding in these relationships, or should I be modifying my XML file in some way that makes infopath immediately know that each is a full list of items that need to match?
If it helps, I also have these items in my xml file, under a different section. My XML file is basically a transcribing of a 3 page excel file. The first page has all of my specs listed above. The second page is a list of items that populate the drop down menus for hardware specs. The third page is a list of teams and all the subteams. Here's a snippit from the other two sections:

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Re: Need to create drop down menus that change depending on other drop down menus (and auto fill other fields)

Need to create drop down menus that change depending on other drop down menus (and auto fill other fields)