Newbie Questions

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

Hilary Stoupa — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:11:20 GMT

The repeating section is bound to the secondary data source - the same one that is providing the data for your two drop down lists.

The Fields task pane in SharePoint List forms defaults to a simplified view - if you click the Advance view link at the bottom of the Fields task pane, you can change from the main data source to your secondary data source and drag repeating node onto the form - which is basically what I did.

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

SomeMadGirl — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 20:18:34 GMT

Okay, I see the rules now. I was clicking on the field itself instead of on "Repeating Tables."

These look like formatting rules though - does the form still use the rule I set up on the 2nd drop-down menu? I was curious so I disabled that rule, and the information still showed up.

If the form is not using the rule I set up on the 2nd dropdown menu, how is it pulling the data?

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

Hilary Stoupa — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:59:02 GMT

Select the repeating section on the form - the rules are on it.... Click on Manage Rules from the Home tab of the ribbon. Looks like InfoPath turned my single rule with two conditions into two rules with one condition each - how odd.

Attaching a screenshot.

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

SomeMadGirl — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:50:00 GMT

I believe the first one - just the display. This is so great, I really appreciate it. I'm still unclear on where I go to see the conditions you placed on it? When I look at the 2nd drop down menu I don't see any additional rules and I don't see any rules on the repeating section. Where did you go to enter the formula?

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

Hilary Stoupa — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:44:08 GMT

Which one of the two does what you need?

In the first one, there is a repeating section bound to the secondary data source - and it has conditional formatting to hopefully only display the correct data from that data source.

In the second one, I set the CourseTitle to have a default value - it uses a double eval formula - they are little complicated to get the hang of, but I always go to this blog post for the syntax: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/infopath/archive/2006/04/05/569338.aspx

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

SomeMadGirl — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:31:56 GMT

Oh my goodness I think it's doing what I need!! But what did you do to the course title field to make it concatenate? Where can I see the formula? Or is it just a matter of making it a repeating section? Because if it were that easy I'd be one happy camper.

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

Hilary Stoupa — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:28:44 GMT

Here it is again with an attempt at a filtered double eval formula for the default value for course title - since I can't preveiw, I'm sort of guessing on both of these - the one above has a formatting rule on the repeating section, by the way - this one has a default value for CourseTitle.

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

Hilary Stoupa — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:22:32 GMT

If you simply want to display the course titles in the form, the attached template may do what you want - it uses a repeating section bound to your secondary data connection. To try it, save it locally, right click the file and select design to open in design mode. In case this isn't quite what you want - it will show in the list form only, but won't be saved in the list - I'll post another sample here in a minute with another option.

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

SomeMadGirl — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:04:42 GMT

Yes, just display - nothing fancy. You lost me at "double eval formula to concencate all the values" - is it easy?

Someday I hope I will know enough to be able to return the good karma to others! Thanks. :)

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

Hilary Stoupa — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:20:08 GMT

I learned InfoPath using this forum. It is nice to be able to help others who are learning.

So, initially, you'd not mentioned that you needed to see multiple course titles. Is this data just going to be displayed? Or do you need an actual value in the field CourseTitle?

If just displayed, we can show your secondary data connection on the form with some filtering - if you need to set the field's value, we'll have to use a double eval formula to concatenate all the values. Does that make sense?

This is a SharePoint List form - so we can't have the course title field be repeating, like we might in a normal InfoPath form.

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

SomeMadGirl — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:52:04 GMT

I AM getting closer!

I have cleaned up my data sources. I have one secondary data source now and it contains all 3 fields. Thanks!

I figured out that "Business Unit" was sometimes called "Title" in my formulas, and this was causing formula errors. So in my data source, I created a new column for that data called "Business Unit 2." This provided a bit of a breakthrough.

Now, I have my 2 dropdowns working great. I have a rule on the 2nd dropdown which prompts data to display in the 3rd field.

However, it seems to only display one result, not *all* results that match the selected business unit and position level.

What should I do now? (form attached.)

I don't know why you are so kind to help people like me, but I sure appreciate it!

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

Hilary Stoupa — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:12:05 GMT

When Position Title changes, you are setting the main data souce CourseTitle field to itself?

Instead, you will want to set it to the secondary data source field that contains the correct course title.

But, when I look at your secondary data sources, neither of them include the CourseTitle? Is that in the Training 2012 List? Walk through the data connection again, and include all the fields you need - Title, PositionLevel and CourseTitle. You only need one data connection to this list, it can be used for both drop downs.

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

SomeMadGirl — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:08:01 GMT

Yes, I was wrong there. I created a brand-new form. What I had done on the old form was causing me confusion.

I mapped my data connection, then dragged my first 2 data source columns into the brand new form. I changed these to drop-down lists - they work great.

Then I used the walkthrough on this post to create the expression on the 2nd drop down list which I was hoping would automatically display the 3rd column information (course titles) in the 3rd field when the 1st and 2nd fields are completed.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/eu/sharepointinfopath/thread/4a50ea94-c980-40c2-82b3-4def6bef25fe

But nothing happens when I preview.

I feel like I'm so close - I'm just missing something obvious.

I attached my form. I'm not sure if you can see what you need to see without the data source? Hopefully you can.

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

Hilary Stoupa — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:58:18 GMT

An expression box (InfoPath 2007) or calculated value (InfoPath 2010) is not a type of field - it is a control. You'll find it in your controls in your form when designing, either in the ribbon for IP 2010, or the task pane for IP 2007.

Re: Display filtered information based on selections on 2 drop-down menus

SomeMadGirl — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:32:03 GMT

Thank you, Hilary! You are very kind. You have given me a couple of ideas of things to try (for example, I do not see 'expression box' as an example of a field I can add, but it sounds exactly like what I need)

When I get a chance I'll try these things out and let know if it works.