Data Connections

Re: Reading SQL Server Data from a Form Template....

konquistador1 — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:22:39 GMT

Hi Patrick, Thanks a Lot for your reply.

My SQL database is a very small one. What i a trying to do is : take values from different fields(Columns) in a singel row from a SQL database and fill out a Single form.(Which includes dropdown boxes and text boxes, date fields etc.) Could you please elaborate on how i could write a Webservice for this.

Thanks,

Re: Reading SQL Server Data from a Form Template....

Patrick Halstead — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:30:50 GMT

Hi Konquistador1 and welcome to our forum!

You can definitely use InfoPath's out of the box functionality to get data from SQL but there are some limitations and complexities. The EnumDB Web Service that Clay mentions has the following benefits:

- Speed up data downloads (and reduce amount of data sent from database)

o Download just the relevant rows

o Download just the columns you want

- Smarter filters

o Change your filters based on data in your form

o Compare values for text, numbers, and dates

- Sort results dynamically

o Change order of sort using controls in your form

Are you just trying to populate a dropdown? If so, just set up a receive data connection to SQL. It should only take a few minutes. So long as you don't have a lot of data in the SQL database table, you probably don't need EnumDB. EnumDB was designed for large databases and parameterized queries.

Cheers!

Re: Reading SQL Server Data from a Form Template....

Clay Fox — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:55:13 GMT

Are you using Database Accelerator? If so you can use EnumDB which there are some tutorials in the Downloads sections.

You can setup a data connection to SQL directly but you are not able to query this data as you can with a web service.

Reading SQL Server Data from a Form Template....

konquistador1 — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:09:33 GMT

Hi Guys,

I designed an Infopath form template. Now i need to populate that form with values from a SQL Server database. Can i acheive this by creating a Data-Connection --> to Receive --> from SQL Server?

P.S: I was able to map all my 'Infopath Form' columns to 'SQL Server backend' data-Columns.

Thanks