Thom Robbins: InfoPath Tips and Tricks

Code Camp II: The Return!

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 15:20:34 GMT

*********CALL FOR SPEAKERS*********

Developer Code Camp II: The Return!

October 16/17, 2004

October 16 – 8:30 AM – 9PM

October 17 – 8:30 AM – 4PM

Microsoft Waltham

Schedule: http://radio.weblogs.com/0131777/CodeCamp2/code2.htm

General Call for Speakers

Code Camp II is looking for speakers and session leaders.

Code Camp II: The Return is looking to be even bigger and better than anything we have done before. The secret is you! This is a New England developer community based event that requires both speakers and attendees. The continuing goal of the Code Camps series is to provide an intensive developer to developer learning experience that is fun and technically stimulating. The primary focus is on delivering programming information and sample code that can be used immediately. The event is free and all slides, manuals and demo code are provided free!

This two day camp is hosted in our Waltham facility. As a community based event this is a general call for speakers and session leaders to help make this event a success. Based on your feedback, Code Camp II will now feature two types of 1.5 hour sessions and three defined tracks

Do you have something to say?

Requested Session Types:

Code focused presentation – These are presentations that include both power points and code demos. Given the audience that is attending it is important that a large amount of the presentation is focused on code and coding related techniques. Sample topics include How To and Best Practice Sessions.

Chalk Talks – These are new to the Code Camp. These sessions are designed as a facilitated discussion around a specific topic. No pre-canned demos, or pre-prepared code samples allowed! They are presented as a free form facilitated discussion that leverages the expertise of the presenter and the combined knowledge of the group to explore a specific topic.

Additionally, based on feedback we are sponsoring the following three tracks. All presentations must fall into these tracks to be considered. One of the strongest pieces of feedback from the last Code Camp was to provide a better organized set of tracks:

Code Camp Tracks:

Smart Client – This track is designed for presentations or chalk talks on topics related to Smart Client related development topics. This includes Windows Forms applications, Microsoft Office or mobile devices.

Web Track – This track is designed for presentations or chalk talks about Web based development that includes ASP.NET and Web Services.

Data Track – This track is designed for presentation and chalk talks about data storage technologies that includes SQL Server and XML.

********Submit Your Sessions********

Please complete the following and return it to trobbins@microsoft.com by September 15.

Once your session abstract is received we will review and provide scheduling for the selected sessions by October 1. All slides and code samples for the presentation must be delivered by October 14. If we are unable to fill all the time slots for the two days, the code camp will be shortened. It is the community that makes this event a success!

Name:
Company:
Email:
Phone:
Session Type:	Chalk Talk/Presentation (Select one)
Track:	Web/Smart Client/Data (Select one)
Level	200/300/400
Session Name:
Session Description:

Suppressing the Submit Message

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 03:09:00 GMT

Question: I need to hide the screen that comes up after the user submits the form. How can I do this?

Answer: This is actually part of the advanced submissions feature. For example, if you have a form that contains a “Submit Customer Information” button as shown below. In order to either customize or disable this screen follow these steps. More..

Filtering Data with InfoPath SP 1

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:32:26 GMT

One of the features that I have found really useful within SP 1 of InfoPath is the use of Filters. I was working with a customer the other day that was looking to build a list box with a specific set of filtered data from a SQL table and this was a handy feature to have. In this example, I will build a form that using Filters retrieves only customers who names begin with “A” to populate into a drop down list box. More..

Dynamically Pulling Form Data with InfoPath SP 1

Mon, 28 Jun 2004 22:55:41 GMT

I recently was doing a form and needed to create a drop down list dynamically based on values contained in a form. In this example, I will show how this can be done using a new feature found in InfoPath SP 1. In this example, I will create a form that a list of companies. This list of companies is then used to populate a drop down list used elsewhere in the form. More..

What is XML? And Why Should I Care?

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 15:30:43 GMT

As promised I wanted to post the information from my talk last night at the VB Learn User Group:

What is XML? And why should I care?

You've heard the hype but have you heard the facts? XML is clearly one of the most important standards within the technology industry. In this presentation Microsoft's Thom Robbins covers the structure and design of XML and how it should be used by developers. This presentation also covers the various companion technologies and standards that have been developed with XML (XSD and XSLT). These are important technologies for developers to understand not only for their own application development but as a cornerstone of the .NET Framework. Thom explains how these can be tied together and used within the .NET Framework for application development.

The samples and slides are available for download from here

Extending XSD Schemas

Sun, 20 Jun 2004 02:22:00 GMT

XSD has become a core part of many of the customers that I work with. Within these customers they are using XSD as a standard way of representing various enterprise objects. By defining a standard way to describe these objects using XSD they are able to manage and guarantee the various data formats. I was working with a customer the other day and they were interested in how they could create an extensible schema. They wanted to create a standard representation of their employees, but provide the way for each of their subsidiaries to extend (not change) the underlying structure. I am going to present three examples that show this. For ease of clarity I will use InfoPath. Of course, these same concepts can be extended to anything XSD compliant.

By default, anything like an InfoPath form created using an XSD is considered locked. This means that form designers or developers are unable to add new elements or attributes to the data structure. This by design makes sense when you consider the fact that the purpose of XSD is to guarantee a specific format to the data structure. Of course, the flexibility of the XSD design allows for extensible elements to be added as we will see in later example.

Example 1: The Locked Schema

Starting with the XSD defined below that describes an employee

<?xml version="1.0"?>

</sequence>

</complexType>

</element>

</schema>

Using this XSD to create an InfoPath form creates a locked form as shown below. The data source window within InfoPath actually adds a locked icon to the entire data source for visual display.

Even if a form designer attempts to right click and add a new element or attribute the “add” menu is grayed out as shown below.

Example 2: Extending Elements

If we change the XSD schema to include the “any” element attribute as shown below. This allows additional elements to be added to the XSD data structure.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<xsd:schema xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<xsd:element name="prefix" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="firstname" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="lastname" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="suffix" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="email" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="employeeid" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="costcenter" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="employeeinfo">

<xsd:complexType>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element ref="prefix" minOccurs="0"/>

<xsd:element ref="firstname"/>

<xsd:element ref="lastname"/>

<xsd:element ref="suffix" minOccurs="0"/>

<xsd:element ref="email"/>

<xsd:element ref="employeeid"/>

<xsd:element ref="costcenter"/>

<xsd:any namespace="##other" processContents="lax" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:sequence>

</xsd:complexType>

</xsd:element>

</xsd:schema>

Using the above XSD to create an InfoPath form creates a slightly different data source. The appearance of the lock icons appears at the field level.

I am now allowed to add additional elements to the data source.

Example 3: Extending Attributes

If we change the XSD slightly and add in the “any” attribute.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<xsd:schema xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<xsd:element name="prefix" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="firstname" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="lastname" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="suffix" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="email" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="employeeid" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="costcenter" type="xsd:string"/>

<xsd:element name="employeeinfo">

<xsd:complexType>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element ref="prefix" minOccurs="0"/>

<xsd:element ref="firstname"/>

<xsd:element ref="lastname"/>

<xsd:element ref="suffix" minOccurs="0"/>

<xsd:element ref="email"/>

<xsd:element ref="employeeid"/>

<xsd:element ref="costcenter"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:anyAttribute/>

</xsd:complexType>

</xsd:element>

</xsd:schema>

Once again creating an InfoPath form the locks appear the same.

However, right clicking and selecting “add” to the data source allows only field level attributes to be added as shown below.

This was meant to show only some of the features available within XSD. The XSD standard defines a very robust and well defined set of tags.

Help - How do I Turn Of SP-1

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 03:26:53 GMT

Email received:

I have installed the SP 1 preview of InfoPath and recently completed the design of a form. The form doesn’t use any of the new features. Actually, I had designed it using the original InfoPath and accidentally upgraded it. Is there a way to remove the SP 1 features?

Answer:

Absolutely, if you have a form and need to turn off the upgrade follow these steps.

Open the form in design mode.

Once in design mode you then select Tools -> Form Options

Select the Advanced tab. At the bottom you can then click the export button and save the form. This will save the form as an InfoPath 1.0 form.

Now, once you have the form in compatibility mode, or if you need to design a form using InfoPath 1.0 make sure that you turn off the SP 1 features. Follow these steps to turn off the features in the Service Pack.

Open InfoPath and select the Tools -> Options menu

Select the Advanced tab and click the first box “Disable Service Pack Features”.

Once you close and reopen InfoPath, any forms that you open are no longer using or taking advantage of the InfoPath SP 1 features.

Getting into InfoPath SP-1

Mon, 31 May 2004 00:19:25 GMT

InfoPath SP-1 has some nice features that are designed to help reduce the amount of coding and complexity within a form. In this example, I will show how to set the default date for a date picker to today. More..

Extracting the current year in InfoPath

Thu, 13 May 2004 02:35:38 GMT

Had an interesting question that I thought would make a good post.

Question: As part of our form we are trying to get today’s date and then extract the year function out and populate that into a text box. How would we do that?

Answer: Using JavaScript you would do this using the following code behind a button.

var testDate = new Date(); var currentYear = testDate.getYear(); XDocument.DOM.selectSingleNode("//my:myFields/my:field1").text = currentYear;

Using XSLT - An Example

Sun, 02 May 2004 23:32:16 GMT

Using XSLT – An Example

I really like how I can use an XML document to separate the storage of application data from its presentation. The XML document contains a self describing set of data structures that I can define using my own vocabulary definitions. One of the major advantages of these documents is how easy they can be moved across the various process boundaries that exist within enterprises. This isolation of data into an XML allows a host processing the document to make the presentation decisions. An XML document by its very definition contains no formatting or presentation requirements. This is where the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) plays a major role. In this article I will show an example of how you can use XSLT to transform an XML InfoPath document in a Word 2003 document. More..

User Group Slide Postings

Sun, 02 May 2004 16:06:19 GMT

I love when I get a chance to talk with any of our local user groups. The way the attendees definitely have a passion and desire to learn more about any of the various technologies is impressive. This week I had a chance to speak with the local Business Productivity Group here in Waltham. As you might guess the topic was “Developing Solutions using InfoPath”. Once again, thanks to the power of user groups and the interest here locally we had about 100 people that attended. For those looking for the slides I have posted them here.

New Sample - Converting datasets and the InfoPath Receiver

Tue, 13 Apr 2004 23:27:23 GMT

I have been asked a couple of times about receiving data and datasets using InfoPath. In response I have posted what I hope is good example of how this can be done.

Let me know what you think!

InfoPath Decision Matrix

Fri, 09 Apr 2004 02:13:21 GMT

Many times it is more important to understand where a solution fits than anything else. When I was younger I often heard people talk about nails and how everything was then a hammer. Recently, I have gotten a lot of questions regarding where InfoPath fits into the solution matrix. I wanted to pass on a link from MSDN that provides a pretty good decision matrix around InfoPath.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/odc_ip2003_ta/html/odc_IPInfoPathDecisionTree02.gif

OnAfterChange Event with InfoPath

Tue, 06 Apr 2004 17:01:52 GMT

It is important to remember that the InfoPath object model is focused on the manipulation of data within an XML DOM. The majority of coding that I do within forms tends to be centralized within the OnAfterChange event. This is the last event that fires on a field. This event actually fires twice. What happens is the first time the event fires, the node object is removed (DELETE) from the XML DOM and the second time the new value is added (INSERT). It is always important to remember when writing your code to be aware of which event is firing.

For example, to see the node operations create a field called AddedExpense and place the following code within the OnAfterChange event.

function msoxd_my_AddedExpense::OnAfterChange(eventObj)

{

// Write code here to restore the global state.

if (eventObj.IsUndoRedo)

{

// An undo or redo operation has occurred and the DOM is read-only.

return;

}

// code added below

XDocument.UI.Alert(eventObj.Operation);

}

The first time you will be prompted with a “DELETE” and the second time with an “INSERT” message.

This becomes important if you are recalculating the fields and expect to find the new value that the user has just entered. If you are not careful you may actually get the old value or a blank value.

Converting InfoPath Images

Mon, 05 Apr 2004 00:11:08 GMT

Recently, I was working with an InfoPath solutions prototype. The idea behind the solution was that a user would be taking a digital photo (JPEG). As they downloaded the pictures to their local machines, they would be able to include these camera shots into an InfoPath form that contained additional descriptive fields. By default, InfoPath takes these types of binaries and converts them into a Base 64 format. Once converted this data is then saved to an XML file. One requirement of the solution was to convert this data back to its original JPEG format once it was saved to the server, so that it could be displayed or saved.

For an example application, I created a simple data source based on a picture box. The data source contained the following data source.

Using the following code that utilizes the System.Drawing.Bitmap namespace, I was able to take the Base 64 converted XML and turn it back into a JPEG.

Private Sub BtnConvert_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles BtnConvert.Click

Dim retnbit As Bitmap

Dim rdr As New XmlTextReader("saved.xml")

rdr.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None

' Read the file. Stop at the Base64 element.

While rdr.Read()

If "my:field1" = rdr.Name Then

Dim base64txt = rdr.ReadElementString()

retnbit = BitmapFromBase64(base64txt)

Exit While

End If

End While

PicImage.Image = retnbit

End Sub

Public Function BitmapFromBase64(ByVal base64 As String) As System.Drawing.Bitmap

Dim oBitmap As System.Drawing.Bitmap

Dim memory As New System.IO.MemoryStream(Convert.FromBase64String(base64))

oBitmap = New System.Drawing.Bitmap(memory)

memory.Close()

memory = Nothing

Return oBitmap

End Function

For those that may want to take a look at the solution, I have posted it for download.

Calling InfoPath Solutions

Thu, 01 Apr 2004 01:56:35 GMT

The XDocument object model offers a variety of methods and properties that are pretty easy to take advantage of when writing an InfoPath form. While contemplating this I received an email from a reader asking – “How can I call into another InfoPath solution from my existing solution?”

While conversing through email I came to find out that he was looking to create a button bar of sorts. His goal was to have a central form that contained buttons that would load other InfoPath forms. This is actually pretty easy to accomplish using the following script.

Application.XDocuments.NewFromSolution("C:\\templates\\mytemplate.xsn");

Note: It is important to remember that you need to place \ between any of your file paths.

Here is a link to a sample that shows how this can be done with a button. Keep in mind that when opening this, you will need to change the path to match what is on your local machine.

It is finally here

Fri, 19 Mar 2004 02:45:06 GMT

I wanted to invite those living in New England to attend. Please make sure that you register!

Thanks and hope to see you there!

Book Signing & Reception Featuring Thom Robbins' New Book:

Programming Microsoft InfoPath: A Developers Guide

Tuesday, April 6^th 5 – 7 PM

Microsoft

201 Jones Road
Waltham MA 02451

To RSVP

Visit www.microsoft.com/events

or call 1-877-MSEVENT

Refer to event code: 1032246774

In celebration of both the release of Infopath 2003 and a new book dedicated to developers who use Infopath—authored by our local Developer Evangelist, Thom Robbins—please join us for a special book signing on April 6^th. If you are interested in developing InfoPath applications this is definitely an event that you will want to attend!

InfoPath 2003 is a new addition to the Microsoft Office System that enables teams and organization to easily create and work with rich, dynamic forms. The ability of InfoPath to generate and consume XML makes it an easy platform for integration, and allows developers to create a rich set of interfaces that connect and integrate with a wide variety of business processes and workflow.

Programming Microsoft InfoPath: A Developers Guide takes a practical and code-oriented approach to provide the essential skill sets and examples that are needed to develop and implement application with InfoPath. This is an essential reference for any developer interested in utilizing InfoPath.

· Thom Robbins will be available to sign copies and answer your questions about developing InfoPath solutions.

· Charles River Media will be available with the newly released book for purchase

To Learn More About Thom's Book, visit Amazon.com

Adding a Background Image to an InfoPath Form

Mon, 15 Mar 2004 03:09:00 GMT

Posted another How To on adding a background image to an InfoPath form.

How To: Dynamically populating a drop down control

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 02:55:56 GMT

I recently received an email that got me thinking. Basically, the reader asked me how you would dynamically populate a drop down list based on a value selected. I went to work and the result is a another How To.

How To: Dynamically populating a drop down control

Let me know what you think!

New How To Posted on Populating Items from a Seondary Data Source

Sat, 28 Feb 2004 02:04:57 GMT

Put together another How To on Populating Items from a Seconday Data Source.

How To: Populate Items from a Secondary Data Source

New InfoPath How To Code Samples!

Sun, 22 Feb 2004 17:50:18 GMT

Based on some great questions I got from reader I have posted two new “How To” stories on InfoPath. Let me know what you think!

InfoPath: How to Total Values in a Repeating Table

InfoPath: How to Create an Auto-Number Field

Programming Microsoft InfoPath - A Developers Guide

Sun, 08 Feb 2004 00:25:55 GMT

For those of you who know I have been patiently and diligently working on a new book for Programming Microsoft InfoPath. The book was really something that I feel pretty passionate about. Working with developers with and on projects every day enables me to see a variety of different aspects - everything from architecture considerations to pure heads down coding. No doubt I am pretty exposed to the entire spectrum of development. I approached this book with exactly that in mind.

The book is designed to present how to develop both with InfoPath and how it fits into your architecture. I made sure that I covered not only the heads down aspects but also, the architecture design patterns. This includes the many different aspects of things to consider -everything from BizTalk Server 2004 to SharePoint Portal Server 2003. I think these are all important development aspects for all to understand. I am really happy to say that the writing process has wound down and the editing process is coming to a close. I am supposed to receive the final proofs this week, cut the final CD and then it’s off to the printer. I understand from the publisher that the book is due out the third week of March.

Writing a book is an interesting and time consuming process. It definitely takes patience and time. So I have to say that I am glad it is almost over. The book is available for order from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

How to Work with XML across the New Microsoft Office System

Tue, 27 Jan 2004 02:14:54 GMT

For those that attended my recent Live Meeting

How to Work with XML across the New Microsoft Office System

Allowing applications to freely share data is a challenge for developers but the promise of XML (Extensible Markup Language). The new releases of Microsoft Office System programs make extensive use of XML allowing it to deliver on this promise of easy data interoperability based on open industry standards. Join us as we take a look under the hood of the XML-enabled Office applications to explore how data can more easily be used in an XML format to solve common developer problems and provide new application scenarios.

Many have requested the deck so it can be downloaded from here

InfoPath and the DataSet

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:31:37 GMT

Unfortunately, InfoPath is not able to directly consume a Web Service that returns an ADO.NET DataSet. InfoPath is designed to handle generic XML payloads. By default, a DataSet that is returned by a Web Service is a serialized XML string that returns a format that InfoPath is not able to directly consume.

If you are like me, I use the DataSet as the base for everything I do around data access. I developed this little helper function that I use to convert a DataSet to an XML Document that InfoPath is able to understand.

<WebMethod()> Public Function InfoPathGetRequests(ByVal RequestedStatus

As Boolean) As System.Xml.XmlDataDocument

' this is a wrapper service for conversion of the DataSet for use

' in an InfoPath form

Dim requestds As DataSet

' call the Web Service to get the DataSet

requestds = GetRequests(RequestedStatus:=RequestedStatus)

' create the XML Document

requestds.Namespace = "Http://localhost/RequestType"

Dim Info As System.Xml.XmlDataDocument = New _

System.Xml.XmlDataDocument(requestds)

Return Info

End Function

I then point my InfoPath form at this Web Service function and off it goes!

Debugging an InfoPath form

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:00:44 GMT

Today all code in InfoPath is written using the Microsoft Script Editor (MSE). The problem is that if you attempt to set breakpoints within MSE they are ignored. This can be rather frustrating for those that are new to InfoPath. In order to enter debug mode using InfoPath you need to place either a debugger (JavaScript) or stop (VBScript) statement inline. When hit this provides the ability to attach to the InfoPath process and enter debug mode.