Newbie Questions

Re: drop down box lists

Hilary Stoupa — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:30:22 GMT

That would be the correct rule to clear a field, yes. I'm not sure what you mean by "blocked" the fields?

Re: drop down box lists

Shelly — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:18:13 GMT

I think I figured it out but need help.

I followed directions to get the drop downs to work... the directions told me to clear the fields but I think I blocked the fields, do you know how ot clar the fileds after each use?

This is what I did: I went to manage rules: New> Action > rules these actions > add > set a fields value > chose my field name and then left value as blank..

Is that how you clear a field

Re: drop down box lists

Shelly — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:05:32 GMT

The options show up whe I preview, which is good. I go to select the choice I need but it selects it but then it populates to a blank

Re: drop down box lists

Hilary Stoupa — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:00:36 GMT

They look right - what exactly happens when you preview? No options available in the second dropdown? Too many options? Are all entries in the "Title" fields for these two data connections unique? If not, you may want the value to use the ID, then you'd be able to use that in your filter.

Re: drop down box lists

Shelly — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:11:34 GMT

I got work to give me InfoPath 2010 - but I have 1 out of three working, Request Catagory/Status. These ones are not working Project Type/Project Manager, Lead Ops PC/ PC

Can you see what I did wrong?

Re: drop down box lists

Shelly — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:22:27 GMT

On my personal laptop i have infopath 2010, i forwarded my work there. I willl review your form again to see if I can get it to work.

thanks!

Re: drop down box lists

Hilary Stoupa — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:06:57 GMT

When I look at your default values for group16 I see that by default you've included quite a few of them (attaching screenshot). Under Tools / Default Values you can get to the dialog in my screenshot - right clicking will give you an option to remove the ones you don't want.

It is true that you are going to have a very hard time with your cascading dropdowns if you use InfoPath 2007 to design this browser form. One problem you will have is that your drop downs are in a repeating section, so if you are running a query to return only the "right" options for your data source, preceding selections may no longer exist in the dropdown prior.

Here's a simple example - let's say your first dropdown has options of "Fruit" or "Vegetables" and for your second dropdown, you run a filtered query of some type that returns the appropriate data to the data source used. So, in the first instance of the repeating group, the user selects "Fruit" - you run a query that returns "Grapes" and "Pears" - those are the options available now in the second dropdown. The user selects "Grapes". The user then adds another instance of the repeating group. She selects "Vegetables" from the first dropdown. You run a query that returns "Squash" and "Carrots". The users selects "Carrots". But since all instances of the second dropdown use the same data source, what do you expect will happen if she wants to now change her first selection from "Grapes" to "Pears"? If she clicks the second dropdown in the first instance of the repeating group, she will find that the only options available to select are "Grapes" (because it is the current value of the field the control is bound to), "Squash", or "Carrots". That's because your secondary data source for the second dropdown currenly on contains vegetables.

In other words - since you have SharePoint 2010, I again strongly encourage you to user InfoPath 2010 to design this browser form. If you do that, you can just use filters, like in my sample form.

Re: drop down box lists

Shelly — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:53:27 GMT

I used made up examples from the first request.

for actual data i need 3 different browser capable "cascading"drop down boxes. I have been researching it today to get them to work, seen several variations and been trying a few of them. some are very complicated. :(

thanks for checking on the repeatable box.

Re: drop down box lists

Shelly — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:46:51 GMT

attached is a copy, thanks for looking at it.

Re: drop down box lists

Hilary Stoupa — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:38:58 GMT

Does this also happen in preview? Is your form based off a database or another source, or did you start it from scratch? The only reason I can think of that you would have 10 instances of a group would be that your form is bound to a data source that is being queried on load and has 10 rows of data returned.... You can also check in the default values, to make sure you only have one instance on load - attach your form to a reply (under the Options tab) if you'd like me to take a look at it.

Re: drop down box lists

Shelly — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:26:23 GMT

ok ty. can i ask 1 more question? I have everything in a repeater box and when i publish the form, it repeats the box about 10 times and then gives choice to add more. i would only like 1 box to show up and then choose if i want more. how do i do this?

Re: drop down box lists

Hilary Stoupa — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:15:32 GMT

Okay - The sample is only going to be helpful to you if all your users have InfoPath installed, or if you can use InfoPath 2010 to design your form. Since you are using SharePoint 2010, I'd really recommend you use InfoPath 2010 for designing browser forms - then you'd be able to use the same filtering in the sample. But in InfoPath 2007 for a browser form, you'll end up having to write code, use an add-on like qRules, or use a web service to be able to cascade your dropdowns. If you search for cascading drop downs for browser forms you'll be able to find information that can help you decide on an approach.

Re: drop down box lists

Shelly — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:09:51 GMT

oops see the form now.

Re: drop down box lists

Shelly — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:08:37 GMT

yes, i have to have pms able to open the form from sharepoint to use and it will eventually email the list to our senior vp the info.

i did not see attached sample. thank you for your response also :)

Re: drop down box lists

Hilary Stoupa — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:02:18 GMT

Is this for a browser form?

If it is for a client form, and you are desiging in IP 2007, you can use filters. See the attached sample for an example of this -- right click the sample and save it locally, then open the form in design mode by right clicking again and selecting design.

However, if it is a browser form, and you are designing in 2007, it gets stickier.