Newbie Questions

Re: InfoPath 2007 Expression must evaluate to a node-set.

Jimmy — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 03:54:47 GMT

Hello again,

Aside from its use in the double eval trick, the eval() function does not seem to get a lot of use, and I would guess that the majority of InfoPath users don't know what it does. So I would classify this as a technical formula on account of the use of eval().

I'm not sure if it relates to the work you're doing, but we do have a large number of blogs and webinar videos detailing various techniques and I recommend checking them out. And of course, we're always here on the forums to help you with any tricky formulas.

Re: InfoPath 2007 Expression must evaluate to a node-set.

mattsky — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 07:23:37 GMT

Thanks Again Jimmy, i actually understood that and have used the shortened version extensively now-even building them into conditional rules populating other fields!

Just out of curiosity, i am the only person i know who uses infopath and i cant seem to find the level of detail anywhere, is this classed as technical or more of a beginner formula ? Only info i cand find is real basic but nothing like im doing.

thanks

Re: InfoPath 2007 Expression must evaluate to a node-set.

Jimmy — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 05:56:21 GMT

Hi Mattsky,

So what eval() does is it takes a set of nodes, applies an XPath to each of them, and then returns a new set of nodes with the result(s).

So in the case of my example, this set is just one node.

We start with (just using a sample value here):

<BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime>2013-08-02T10:23:23</BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime>

The XPath formula translate(substring(., 12, 5), ":", "") is applied to this:

substring(., 12, 5) -> 10:23
translate("10:23", ":", "") -> 1023

And then this result is returned as a new set of nodes (in this case, just one node):

<item>1023</item>

And this is ready to be used with the | union operator to join with other nodes and use in the max() function.

As a side note, if there are multiple date fields involved here and you want to apply the same extraction technique to them (get characters 12-16 and remove the colon), then instead of this:

max(eval(BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime, 'translate(substring(., 12, 5), ":", "")') | eval(BtbsStatementDebitOtherTime, 'translate(substring(., 12, 5), ":", "")') | BtbsStatementCreditNumber)

You can do this instead:

max(eval(BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime | BtbsStatementDebitOtherTime, 'translate(substring(., 12, 5), ":", "")') | BtbsStatementCreditNumber)

Since, as mentioned above, eval() can operate on a whole set of nodes.

Re: InfoPath 2007 Expression must evaluate to a node-set.

mattsky — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 06:51:49 GMT

Thanks Jimmy that works perfectly, have now used on all 10 fields and works a treat!

I like to understand whats behind some of the formulas to know how to for next time, can you explain a little about what you have done, im not familiar with eval and translate (although i think i get what translate is

Jimmy:

Please give this a try:

max(eval(BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime, 'translate(substring(., 12, 5), ":", "")') | BtbsStatementCreditNumber)

doing in the formula)

If its to hard no worries, im still very thankful for the assistance!

cheers

Re: InfoPath 2007 Expression must evaluate to a node-set.

mattsky — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 06:51:40 GMT

Thanks Jimmy that works perfectly, have now used on all 10 fields and works a treat!

If its to hard no worries, im still very thankful for the assistance!

cheers

Re: InfoPath 2007 Expression must evaluate to a node-set.

Jimmy — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 02:25:39 GMT

Please give this a try:

max(eval(BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime, 'translate(substring(., 12, 5), ":", "")') | BtbsStatementCreditNumber)

InfoPath 2007 Expression must evaluate to a node-set.

mattsky — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 07:23:33 GMT

HI All

Yep im a newbie on this forum so im hoping someone will be able to assist. I have numerous infopath forms feeding into others through data source connections which all sits on sharepoint.

What the end goal im trying to achieve is select a number of fields (10 in this instance) and find the one with the latest time and have this feeding through into the other forms.

I already have checks making sure the days match up so this is strictly time orientated at this stage.

the error im getting is Expression must evaluate to a node-set.

xdMath:Max(-->concat(substring(../my:BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime, 12, 2), substring(../my:BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime, 15, 2)) <--| ../my:BtbsStatementCreditNumber)

the formula im trying is

max(concat(substring(BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime, 12, 2), substring(BtbsStatementDebitCompletedTime, 15, 2)) | BtbsStatementCreditNumber)

Currently i have extra text boxes doing the concat substring work (this is the field BtbsStatementCreditNumber) but i was looking to get rid of these and have it all contained in the one field for ease of use and management (what im trying in the first agrument -if its called that). The above formula is for only 2 fields but this is just a test when it goes live i need it feeding 10, possibly more in other instances.

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks