InfoPath Dev

So I was making some changes to my InfoPath forms involving validation to a specific pattern, and when I published it there was a 3-character restriction that wasn't part of any rule or validation I had set. The testers notified me of this and I verified it.

I removed all rules and all restrictions, both for the text box as well as the field itself, so now there is literally nothing, re-published and the same 3-character restriction.

I deleted and re-created the text box - same thing. Design Checker finds no errors either.

The only thing I haven't done is delete and re-create the field itself, but I'm afraid if I do this it'll muck up historical data in the list when I publish.

Anything else I can try?

Is this a list form? Or a library form? If it is a list form, can you check the list settings for the column and see what the maximum # of characters is?

Hi Hilary, thanks for getting back.

It's a list form. The text box no longer has any limitations or any rules applied. The field itself is at the default 255 characters.

It displays the same 3-character limit in Preview, so it's clearly with the InfoPath form and not the list settings. Just for giggles though I created a test entry, then edited in Grid View (to leave the form out of it) and I was able to add as many characters as needed.

it seems to be a corruption in the infoPath form itself, but I don't know how to "clean" or re-build it...

I've never seen this before. Feel free to attach a copy of your form if you'd like me to take a look.

Trying to think how I can do it. The form also contains a lot of XML that InfoPath does not save (another, unrelated bug). I've learned to work around that one by leaving my computer on 24/7 when doing development updates - I recode all the XML then never turn it off until I am satisfied with the update, then save and close - at which point I'll love the xml.

I might be able to delete those parts of the form to focus on this particular bug.

OK, it worked. I deleted an entire section, but that part has no relation to this particular bug.

I've attached a truncated form. The specific text box I am having issues with is titled Project No. on the form. It's near(er) the top. The field itself is also called Project No.

For me it displays the bug even in Preview, so you shouldn't even have to publish it.

Yeah, that's a weird one. Did you actually check the list setting character limit in SharePoint? If not, can you do that, please?

See attached

You might try using data > refresh fields to align the form with the list schema - see attached screenshot. The first shows where to find that. I found in the manifest of your form the maxlength setting for the field is currently "3" - and I think that may be fixed if you refresh the fields. If not, I can tell you how to change that in your form files.

The refresh didn't work. How/where do I access the raw data you show in your screenshot?

 Save the form template as source files - you can do that from the Publish menu. Then, open the file named manifest.xsf in a text editor.

I'd probably search for:

xsf:xmlToEdit name="ProjectNo_x002e__7116"

This text is on line 1397 in the copy of the form I have.

 I'd delete the maxLength attribute from this element:
    <xsf:xmlToEdit name="ProjectNo_x002e__7116" item="/dfs:myFields/dfs:dataFields/my:SharePointListItem_RW/my:ProjectNo_x002e_">
     <xsf:editWith proofing="no" autoComplete="no" maxLength="3" component="xField"></xsf:editWith>
    </xsf:xmlToEdit>

The edited element should look like:
    <xsf:xmlToEdit name="ProjectNo_x002e__7116" item="/dfs:myFields/dfs:dataFields/my:SharePointListItem_RW/my:ProjectNo_x002e_">
     <xsf:editWith proofing="no" autoComplete="no" component="xField"></xsf:editWith>
    </xsf:xmlToEdit> 

Save the manifest.xsf file. Then, in the source files, right click on manifest.xsf and select design. This will open the form back up in InfoPath. Use File > Save As to save the form as an XSN again. 

Well, I did exactly that, and shown below is the edited manifest. Re-opened in InfoPath and saved and same result. I checked the text boxes too, and they are all blank.

At this point I am wondering if I shouldn't go back to an earlier version of the form and re-do the changes...

Weird - it worked for me - screenshot attached. I'll post the template where I made these changes next.

Here's a copy of the form that I changed.

Hilary, thank you so very, very much for all of your efforts in trying to help me out. In the end I decided to fall back to an earlier, saved version and re-do all of my changes up to this version. It took roughly half a day, but I had already killed almost as much time trying to fix the other one.

In the end, the lesson here is it's always good to keep a version history and the saved files that go with it! It seems fine now with the remake, so whatever happened must have been associated with particular saved file.