Re: XML Data Connection in InfoPath 2007: Data types and reading xml

Hilary Stoupa — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:40:54 GMT

Hi, Patrick:

You can specify the data types in the .xsd that InfoPath generates when you add the data connection to your .xml file. You'll need to save the form as source files or rename it with ".cab" for the extension and copy the files out. Open the .xsd in question and add data types as needed. Here is a link to a great tutorial on data types from W3Schools.

Then you can open manifest.xsf in design mode and resave as a template. I'm not sure if it will solve your issue, but it seems worth a shot!

XML Data Connection in InfoPath 2007: Data types and reading xml

Patrick — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:04:05 GMT

Hi,

I've been working on an InfoPath project for a while that was originally using SQL data connections. I recently tested the form with xml data connections to the same data. I had converted the data that was in SQL tables back to excel 2007 and then to xml files. (For any of you that have read my previous posts on SQL performane vs. SharePoint List performance, the XML data connections as resource files are MUCH faster for me!)

Now, I have loaded the xml files into the InfoPath form as resource files, made the appropriate data connections, and reconfigured the rules and default values to accommodate the new data connections.

I am having issues where the xml data I get is returning a "space" after some ID numbers I have in the files. (i.e. An ID# of "2" returns as "2 " and there are other fields that must read from these ID fields to make the form work, but having a space is causing errors.

My initial thought is that perhaps the data type is not correctly specified in the xml file. I used some code I found online to take excel data and convert it to xml data. (below)

'Attribute VB_Name = "XL_to_XML"
Sub MakeXML()
' create an XML file from an Excel table
Dim MyRow As Integer, MyCol As Integer, Temp As String, YesNo As Variant, DefFolder As String
Dim XMLFileName As String, XMLRecSetName As String, MyLF As String, RTC1 As Integer
Dim RangeOne As String, RangeTwo As String, Tt As String, FldName(99) As String

MyLF = Chr(10) & Chr(13)    ' a line feed command
DefFolder = "J:\OMS\"   'change this to the location of saved XML files

YesNo = MsgBox("This procedure requires the following data:" & MyLF _
& "1 A filename for the XML file" & MyLF _
& "2 A groupname for an XML record" & MyLF _
& "3 A cellrange containing fieldnames (col titles)" & MyLF _
& "4 A cellrange containing the data table" & MyLF _
& "Are you ready to proceed?", vbQuestion + vbYesNo, "MakeXML CiM")

If YesNo = vbNo Then
Debug.Print "User aborted with 'No'"
Exit Sub
End If

XMLFileName = FillSpaces(InputBox("1. Enter the name of the XML file:", "MakeXML CiM", "xl_xml_data"))
If Right(XMLFileName, 4) <> ".xml" Then
XMLFileName = XMLFileName & ".xml"
End If

XMLRecSetName = FillSpaces(InputBox("2. Enter an identifying name of a record:", "MakeXML CiM", "record"))

RangeOne = InputBox("3. Enter the range of cells containing the field names (or column titles):", "MakeXML CiM", "A3:D3")
If MyRng(RangeOne, 1) <> MyRng(RangeOne, 2) Then
MsgBox "Error: names must be on a single row" & MyLF & "Procedure STOPPED", vbOKOnly + vbCritical, "MakeXML CiM"
Exit Sub
End If
MyRow = MyRng(RangeOne, 1)
For MyCol = MyRng(RangeOne, 3) To MyRng(RangeOne, 4)
If Len(Cells(MyRow, MyCol).Value) = 0 Then
MsgBox "Error: names range contains blank cell" & MyLF & "Procedure STOPPED", vbOKOnly + vbCritical, "MakeXML CiM"
Exit Sub
End If
FldName(MyCol - MyRng(RangeOne, 3)) = FillSpaces(Cells(MyRow, MyCol).Value)
Next MyCol

RangeTwo = InputBox("4. Enter the range of cells containing the data table:", "MakeXML CiM", "A4:D8")
If MyRng(RangeOne, 4) - MyRng(RangeOne, 3) <> MyRng(RangeTwo, 4) - MyRng(RangeTwo, 3) Then
MsgBox "Error: number of field names <> data columns" & MyLF & "Procedure STOPPED", vbOKOnly + vbCritical, "MakeXML CiM"
Exit Sub
End If
RTC1 = MyRng(RangeTwo, 3)

If InStr(1, XMLFileName, ":\") = 0 Then
XMLFileName = DefFolder & XMLFileName
End If

Open XMLFileName For Output As #1
Print #1, "<?xml version=" & Chr(34) & "1.0" & Chr(34) & " encoding=" & Chr(34) & "ISO-8859-1" & Chr(34) & "?>"
Print #1, "<OMS_XML>"

For MyRow = MyRng(RangeTwo, 1) To MyRng(RangeTwo, 2)
Print #1, "<" & XMLRecSetName & ">"
For MyCol = RTC1 To MyRng(RangeTwo, 4)
' the next line uses the FormChk function to format dates and numbers
     Print #1, "<" & FldName(MyCol - RTC1) & ">" & RemoveAmpersands(FormChk(MyRow, MyCol)) & "</" & FldName(MyCol - RTC1) & ">"
' the next line does not apply any formatting
' Print #1, "<" & FldName(MyCol - RTC1) & ">" & RemoveAmpersands(Cells(MyRow, MyCol).Value) & "</" & FldName(MyCol - RTC1) & ">"
    Next MyCol
Print #1, "</" & XMLRecSetName & ">"

Next MyRow
Print #1, "</OMS_XML>"
Close #1
MsgBox XMLFileName & " created." & MyLF & "Process finished", vbOKOnly + vbInformation, "MakeXML CiM"
Debug.Print XMLFileName & " saved"
End Sub
Function MyRng(MyRangeAsText As String, MyItem As Integer) As Integer
' analyse a range, where MyItem represents 1=TR, 2=BR, 3=LHC, 4=RHC

Dim UserRange As Range
Set UserRange = Range(MyRangeAsText)
Select Case MyItem
Case 1
MyRng = UserRange.Row
Case 2
MyRng = UserRange.Row + UserRange.Rows.Count - 1
Case 3
MyRng = UserRange.Column
Case 4
MyRng = UserRange.Columns(UserRange.Columns.Count).Column
End Select
Exit Function

End Function
Function FillSpaces(AnyStr As String) As String
' remove any spaces and replace with underscore character
Dim MyPos As Integer
MyPos = InStr(1, AnyStr, " ")
Do While MyPos > 0
Mid(AnyStr, MyPos, 1) = "_"
MyPos = InStr(1, AnyStr, " ")
Loop
FillSpaces = LCase(AnyStr)
End Function

Function FormChk(RowNum As Integer, ColNum As Integer) As String
' formats numeric and date cell values to comma 000's and DD MMM YY
FormChk = Cells(RowNum, ColNum).Value
If IsNumeric(Cells(RowNum, ColNum).Value) Then
FormChk = Format(Cells(RowNum, ColNum).Value, "#,##0 ;(#,##0)")
End If
If IsDate(Cells(RowNum, ColNum).Value) Then
FormChk = Format(Cells(RowNum, ColNum).Value, "dd mmm yy")
End If
End Function

Function RemoveAmpersands(AnyStr As String) As String
Dim MyPos As Integer
' replace Ampersands (&) with plus symbols (+)

MyPos = InStr(1, AnyStr, "&")
Do While MyPos > 0
Mid(AnyStr, MyPos, 1) = "+"
MyPos = InStr(1, AnyStr, "&")
Loop
RemoveAmpersands = AnyStr
End Function

I'm not sure if the code was written for excel 2003 or not, but it seemed to work. I got my tables as xml files and made sure there are no spaces where there shouldn't be.

So I'm wondering if I should specify, in my xml files, the data types for currency, decimals, strings, etc... AND How do I do that?

I looked around online and saw that Open Office XML might be something to look into, but I'm not an expert in XML so it might prove to be difficult.

Any help?

Data Connections

Re: XML Data Connection in InfoPath 2007: Data types and reading xml

XML Data Connection in InfoPath 2007: Data types and reading xml