Hello,
I can't seem to find anything on the web about this.
The "short" question is "Is there a way to create a web part connection between a "data form web part" and an "xml web part" via SharePoint designer or through the browser?
Here's the background info (it's long, but I am really trying to give as many details as possible):
I am able to create a connection between 2 data form web parts, but there is no option in the context menu (in SharePoint Designer) to create a connection to my xml web part.
I am open to other ways of achieving my goal, which is essentially:
Create a list of people. When the user clicks on a person, a web part on the same page displays details about this person.
I have created many workarounds to what I understand is a limitation with the "Person or Group" column. It seems if I add a "Person or Group" column, I am not able to create calculated fields off of that column to display first name, last name, samAccountName, etc. What I have done is, created a list with the "Person or Group" column only, and then created an InfoPath form for the end-user to fill out. The InfoPath form contains a dropdownlist to select a
person (which is bound to the list containing the "Person or Group" column). I then have attached custom code to the
change event of the dropdownlist. On selection of a person, I go out to the UserProfileService to get the rest of the information I need (first, last, office location, department, etc.) and populate some hidden fields in the InfoPath form with this information. On form submission, I am submitting to a new list (call it "details"). I am now able to send the hidden fields that I need to this list.
Back on my page, I currently have the "details" section being displayed via another data form web part, that is bound to this "details" list. All seems well and good, except I have now noticed that a rich text field in the InfoPath form (that the user uses to enter more details about a person) is not displaying the formatting.
I understand that this is happening because I am binding the display of the rich text field to the "details" list column, and not the actual xml from the InfoPath form. I cannot figure out how to get a handle to the xml form (I can't hard-code it since the form would change depending on the person for whom we are viewing details).
One idea I have is to use the Xml web part and not using the actual "details" list at all, but rather use only the xml from the InfoPath form.
This seems ideal, and I can get the name of the form from the first web part (the one that just displays the list of
people, because I have actually bound this to the same details" list but am only showing their full name. Just to
refresh your memory, I'll point out that this list now has an InfoPath form associated with it, so I can just get the name from the list). The problem arises though, because I can't seem to create a connection between these 2 web parts.
My manager would like me to avoid using the query string if possible (although I believe he would be open to it if he knew that this was the best practice.)
Can anyone PLEASE shed some light on what the best way to achieve all this would be? If you have read this far, I really appreciate you at least taking the time to look!
Thanks,
M.
I can't seem to find anything on the web about this.
The "short" question is "Is there a way to create a web part connection between a "data form web part" and an "xml web part" via SharePoint designer or through the browser?
Here's the background info (it's long, but I am really trying to give as many details as possible):
I am able to create a connection between 2 data form web parts, but there is no option in the context menu (in SharePoint Designer) to create a connection to my xml web part.
I am open to other ways of achieving my goal, which is essentially:
Create a list of people. When the user clicks on a person, a web part on the same page displays details about this person.
I have created many workarounds to what I understand is a limitation with the "Person or Group" column. It seems if I add a "Person or Group" column, I am not able to create calculated fields off of that column to display first name, last name, samAccountName, etc. What I have done is, created a list with the "Person or Group" column only, and then created an InfoPath form for the end-user to fill out. The InfoPath form contains a dropdownlist to select a
person (which is bound to the list containing the "Person or Group" column). I then have attached custom code to the
change event of the dropdownlist. On selection of a person, I go out to the UserProfileService to get the rest of the information I need (first, last, office location, department, etc.) and populate some hidden fields in the InfoPath form with this information. On form submission, I am submitting to a new list (call it "details"). I am now able to send the hidden fields that I need to this list.
Back on my page, I currently have the "details" section being displayed via another data form web part, that is bound to this "details" list. All seems well and good, except I have now noticed that a rich text field in the InfoPath form (that the user uses to enter more details about a person) is not displaying the formatting.
I understand that this is happening because I am binding the display of the rich text field to the "details" list column, and not the actual xml from the InfoPath form. I cannot figure out how to get a handle to the xml form (I can't hard-code it since the form would change depending on the person for whom we are viewing details).
One idea I have is to use the Xml web part and not using the actual "details" list at all, but rather use only the xml from the InfoPath form.
This seems ideal, and I can get the name of the form from the first web part (the one that just displays the list of
people, because I have actually bound this to the same details" list but am only showing their full name. Just to
refresh your memory, I'll point out that this list now has an InfoPath form associated with it, so I can just get the name from the list). The problem arises though, because I can't seem to create a connection between these 2 web parts.
My manager would like me to avoid using the query string if possible (although I believe he would be open to it if he knew that this was the best practice.)
Can anyone PLEASE shed some light on what the best way to achieve all this would be? If you have read this far, I really appreciate you at least taking the time to look!
Thanks,
M.