Mapping Infopath fields to Sharepoint columns

Question

Any one has any idea how to map an infopath field to a sharepoint column of type choice? The infopath field is a repeating field, so the user can select multiple options, I want to be able to map those to the choice field in sharepoint. Any ideas?

update: What I'm trying to do is the following. I have a choice column in sharepoint which allows user entered values. In infopath, I have a repeating field. I'm binding the field to a dropdownlist. The dropdownlist gets filled by a webservice. This dropdownlist is in a repeating section, so the user can choose to select from multiple dropdownlists. So lets say the user adds 2 dropdownlists, and selects an option from each dropdownlist. I want to be able to add those selections as choices in the sharepoint choice column.

Endopeptidase

Answer 1

SharePoint list is a flat structure, and because of that Infopath does not allow you map repeating sections to list columns.

You might wanna consider the following workaround:

• Store Infopath form to one library (along with non-repeating fields)
• Use one of these custom activities to extract data from repeating table and copy it to another list
• Create a custom data view or a web part to display these items (if necessary)

This approach can be useful if you need to do some additional tasks with the repeating data.

Sidonia

Answer 2

When you are promoting fields within a repeated section into SharePoint columns, the options available are to promote the column as:

• first (i.e. only the first selection is promoted)
• last
• count
• merge (I believe this merges all the selected values together into a single entry)

screenshot http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5539/repeatinggrouptr3.png

Illtempered

Answer 3

Is it not similar to Create a Repeating Cascading List from:

• a Flat Data Source or
• a Hierarchical Data Source ?

If it is, may be those two articles may give you some pointers.

Yahweh

Thanks VonC. So do you have any idea if this is doable? – Endopeptidase

I checked and so far, I do not find an easy way to do it. That does not mean it is impossible though, just that I am not familiar enough with SharePoint. – Yahweh

Answer 4

Depends on the type of choice field it is. If it is a Multiple Select (checkboxes) Choice field, you can set the field through the object model (from the sharepoint site) or through the web service, by using ";#" for each item that you want to check mark, where is the value which is listed by the checkbox. I don't remember what the option is for single choice only, but it is something of the same nature. If you are talking about lookup fields, it has to do with the index number of the field from the list you are looking it up from. Also, there is additional steps if the choice field allows users to input or specify their own options.

Bergstrom