Imported Nintex Workflow does not Publish or Save

Problem: I recently came across an issue where a Nintex Workflow did not want to Save or Publish after importing it.  The Publish screen did not even show. I tried recreating the workflow and saving it, but even that didn't work.

Solution: I ended up changing the name of the Nintex Workflow after importing it, before trying to Save or Publish and that seemed to fix the issue.

Cause: It seems the Workflow Name was already in use, but I was unable to see it under Library Settings > Workflow Settings.

InfoPath: Setting default formatting for controls per view

When you are busy designing an InfoPath form, you normally have a certain look and feel you want to implement: font, font size, font colour, etc.  One also tends to have different settings for different controls, like list boxes, buttons, rich text boxes, etc.  And it can be quite time consuming to go and set each of these controls to the desired formatting over and over again.

Luckily there is a way to set all the default formatting of the controls on your current view in one central place.  To get to the View Properties dialog, do the following, depending on which version of InfoPath you are running.

InfoPath 2007:

1. Go to Views in the task pane and select a view
2. Now click on "View Properties" below the view selection box

InfoPath 2010:

1. Select the Page Design tab on the Ribbon
2. Now click on "Properties" under the View Name

A dialog box will appear.  Select the Text Settings tab. 

You can now set the formatting defaults to all the controls you will be using.  Unfortunately, you will need to repeat this process for every view on your form.

Cannot update promoted fields from Library for InfoPath form update

I have recently been testing an upgrade to an existing site and came across a phenomenon that had me completely stumped.  To give you an idea of what I was dealing with, the existing system has:

• An InfoPath form
• 2 Promoted fields linked to existing columns in the Forms Library
• A Nintex workflow to change the value of the above promoted fields in the Forms Library

We made a change to the form and gave it a new version – Version 2.  The Updated system would now have:

• 2 InfoPath content types installed (Version 1 and Version 2)
• Version 2 promotes two different fields to the same columns in the Forms Library as Version 1 mentioned above. 
• The same Nintex workflow runs against Version 1 and Version 2 of the form. 

Having 2 InfoPath forms installed meant that I had to make sure that I still had data integrity whether using Version 1 or Version 2 of the InfoPath form.  This is where the problem came in...

PROBLEM:

As I mentioned earlier,  the Nintex workflow would be updating the Form Library columns where the InfoPath fields were promoted to.  But as I ran through the system I realised that, while the workflow was still updating the promoted fields for the Version 1 form, it wasn't doing the same for Version 2 forms.

I tried everything from logging extra notes in the workflow history to make sure the workflow actually tries to update Version 2 to changing the fields that the workflow was updating, you name it!  Well, it finally came to me.  One connection lead to another connection and BOOM – LIGHT BULB! 

SOLUTION:

When you publish an InfoPath form and you have a promoted field, by default a user cannot edit that field directly in the Form Library.  It is a read-only column.  But, if you modify the Column you want to promote, you will see a tick box option available to you:

"Allow users to edit data in this field by using a datasheet or properties page"

When you select this option, you make the field value editable in the Form Library.  For a detailed explanation of how to set this option, see David Gerhardt's blog: Promoting Editable SharePoint Columns.

My problem was that, where the InfoPath form Version 1 promoted fields had this option ticked when it was published, the new fields being promoted in Version 2 did not, and that caused the conflict.

Creating a MySite web app successfully & Troubleshooting

I've recently ran into some minor issues while installing a MySite web application, so I thought I'd share my findings with you.

If you need some help installing MySites for the first time, I found this great video tutorial by Hilton Giesenow on how to create a MySite web application: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sharepointserver/ff356863.aspx

Troubleshooting

Problem 1
When you are​ presented with the error "Unknown Error" when you clicked on OK to create the web application and the log entry says something like:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Windows SharePoint Services 3
Event Category: Database
Event ID: 3351
Date:  2010/12/10
Time:  03:58:51 PM
User:  N/A
Computer: SVR-26
Description:
SQL database login failed. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.

 

Login failed for user 'domain\nvanbreda'.

 

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Solution 1
Instead of using SQL Authentication in the Database Name and Authentication section under Database Authentication, select Windows Authentication (Recommended)


Problem 2
When you are presented with the error:

"Your personal site cannot be created because the managed path "personal" has not been created for this site. Contact your site administrator for more information."

when trying to create your mysite page for the first time

Solution 2
Add 'personal' to the Managed Paths:

1. Go to Central Administration > Application Management
2. Click on Define Managed paths under the SharePoint Web Application Management heading
3. Select the MySite web application from the Web Application list
4. Enter the word 'personal' in the Path field, without the ''
5. Select the Type as Wildcard inclusion
6. Click OK.  The personal path should be added to the Included paths list as a wildcard inclusion.

Problem 3
When you are presented with the error
"'Your personal site cannot be created because Self-Service Site Creation is not enabled. Contact your site administrator for more information."
when trying to create your mysite page for the first time

Solution 3
Turn on Self-Service site management:

1. Go to Central Administration > Application Management
2. Click on Self-Service site management under Application Security
3. Set Enable Self-Service Site Creation to 'on'
4. Click OK

InfoPath drop-down not displaying all items in the SP list

One of our clients recently had one of our SharePoint solutions go into their live environment.  So you can understand my shock when the client contacts me to say that a drop-down in their InfoPath form does not display all the items they have added in the corresponding SharePoint list.​  The list holds 160 items, but the drop-down only holds 100. 

I almost had a heart attack!  Please let this not be one of those annoying InfoPath limitations that is always creeping up when you least expect it! 

Well, turns out it wasn't a limitation in InfoPath at all, nor was any big changes required in the InfoPath form either.  Phew!

After some help from my trusted friend, Google, I found out that InfoPath uses the default view to populate the drop-down list, and by default, there is an item limit on a view of 100 items.  This is what will display only a certain number of items per page, and give you the option to click "Next" to go to the next page of items.
InfoPath will thus only display the amount of items the default view would display. 

Solution:

1. Browse to the SharePoint list that is giving problems
2. Click on Settings > List Settings
3. Scroll to the bottom and click on the default view's name
4. Scroll down and expand the Item Limit section
5. Set the "Number of items to display" to a reasonable limit that won't be reached, like 1000
6. Click OK

Google Source: http://www.sharepointdev.net/sharepoint--infopath-forms-services/infopath-drop-down-list-not-showing-all-items-in-a-list-36795.shtml