Mailako eszenatokia:
Provide a method that enables users to enter accurate purchase requisitions quickly.
Mailako arazoa:
The client does business with several hundred vendors.
Vendors are "type" specific. This means that a vendor sells computer equipment (e.g. Dell) or office supplies (e.g. Staples).
How do we enable end users who create purchase requisitions select a valid vendor?
Mailako irtenbidea:
Differentiate vendors in the system via "type".
Enable users to select the "type" of product and then provide a filtered set of appropriate vendors.
Irtenbide teknikoa:
An InfoPath form has been designed that enables users to enter online purchase requisitions.
Two InfoPath selection lists control vendor selection. Lehen, the user selects a "purchase type". This limits a second selection list to contain only vendors that sell for that purchase type. This is a classic cascading drop-down.
Vendors are stored in a MOSS custom list with custom columns for vendor attributes such as name, address and especially "type".
Implement a web service for an InfoPath client to consume that iterates through the custom vendor list, returning only vendors matching a supplied "type".
Invoke the web service via the InfoPath form.
Ikasitakoa:
- Lehen, it seems necessary to go this route. I would have preferred to do the filtering entirely within InfoPath and not create any web service functionality here. Hala eta guztiz ere, forms server does not provide the required filtering capability. We can put a rule onto a the "type" selection list in the form to sort of re-open the vendor query, but we can’t get it to work properly. Hori dela eta, it was necessary to implement the web service.
- This is a classic "cascading selection list" problem in the InfoPath forms server world and there are many good examples out there that explain how to solve this.
- A blank value for a column in the vendor list does not return an empty string when referenced like this: initItem["Vendor Name"]. Horren ordez, it returns a null.
Some other Notes:
- I return an array[] of vendors because I had some difficulty returning an ArrayList. InfoPath was complaining about it and I didn’t have the time or the inclination to fight over it. Hau, jakina, puts an artificial limit on the total number of vendors. It also compelled me to implement a trim() method on the array because I hate the idea of returning back 100’s of null vendors. InfoPath doesn’t care, but it nagged at me. (Berriz, this was easier than fighting InfoPath over ArrayLists).
- I implemented a GetSpecificVendorByName() function as well, which may be instructive.
Kodea:
erabiliz Sistema;
erabiliz System.Web;
erabiliz System.Web.Services;
erabiliz System.Web.Services.Protocols;
erabiliz Microsoft.SharePoint;
erabiliz System.Configuration;
/// <laburpena>
/// Vendor Service: Provides vendor related services which today are consumed by an infopath client form.
///
/// History:
/// ——–
/// 07/24/07: Initial coding, Paul J. Gavin of Conchango.
///
/// </laburpena>
[WebService(Namespace = "http://www.conchango.com/")]
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
publikoak klasean VendorService : System.Web.Services.WebService
{
/// <laburpena>
/// Represents a vendor from a custom sharepoint list maintained by MSUSA.
/// </laburpena>
publikoak klasean Vendor
{
publikoak Vendor() { }
publikoak Vendor(Txu initItem)
{
bada (! (initItem["Vendor Name"] == zero)) VendorName = initItem["Vendor Name"].ToString();
bada (! (initItem["Address 1"] == zero)) VendorAddress1 = initItem["Address 1"].ToString();
bada (! (initItem["Address 2"] == zero)) VendorAddress2 = initItem["Address 2"].ToString();
bada (! (initItem["City"] == zero)) VendorCity = initItem["City"].ToString();
bada (! (initItem["VendorPhone"] == zero)) VendorPhone = initItem["VendorPhone"].ToString();
bada (! (initItem["PurchaseType"] == zero)) VendorType = initItem["PurchaseType"].ToString();
bada (! (initItem["State"] == zero)) VendorState = initItem["State"].ToString();
bada (! (initItem["Zip"] == zero)) VendorZip = initItem["Zip"].ToString();
bada (!(initItem["Fax"] == zero)) VendorFax = initItem["Fax"].ToString();
bada (!(initItem["SalesRepName"] == zero)) VendorSalesRepName = initItem["SalesRepName"].ToString();
VendorItemId = initItem.ID; // Unique ID maintained via MOSS.
}
publikoak int VendorItemId;
publikoak katea VendorName;
publikoak katea VendorAddress1;
publikoak katea VendorAddress2;
publikoak katea VendorCity;
publikoak katea VendorState;
publikoak katea VendorZip;
publikoak katea VendorPhone;
publikoak katea VendorType;
publikoak katea VendorSalesRepName;
publikoak katea VendorFax;
}
publikoak VendorService () {
//Uncomment the following line if using designed components
//InitializeComponent();
}
pribatua Vendor[] GenerateTestVendors()
{
Vendor[] resultList;
resultList = berria Vendor[100];
Vendor v;
v = berria Vendor();
v.VendorAddress1 = "v1_address1";
v.VendorAddress2 = "v1_address2";
v.VendorCity = "v1_city";
v.VendorName = "v1_vendorname";
v.VendorPhone = "v1_vendorphone";
v.VendorState = "v1_st";
v.VendorType = "v1_type";
v.VendorZip = "v1_zip";
resultList[0] = v;
v = berria Vendor();
v.VendorAddress1 = "v2_address1";
v.VendorAddress2 = "v2_address2";
v.VendorCity = "v2_city";
v.VendorName = "v2_vendorname";
v.VendorPhone = "v2_vendorphone";
v.VendorState = "v2_st";
v.VendorType = "v2_type";
v.VendorZip = "v2_zip";
resultList[1] = v;
v = berria Vendor();
v.VendorAddress1 = "v3_address1";
v.VendorAddress2 = "v3_address2";
v.VendorCity = "v3_city";
v.VendorName = "v3_vendorname";
v.VendorPhone = "v3_vendorphone";
v.VendorState = "v3_st";
v.VendorType = "v3_type";
v.VendorZip = "v3_zip";
resultList[2] = v;
itzultzeko resultList;
}
[WebMethod]
publikoak Vendor GetSpecificVendorById(int vendorId)
{
katea SpVendorSiteName; // Name of the actual MOSS site that hosts the vendor custom list.
katea SpVendorListName; // Name of the actual MOSS list containing vendors.
SpVendorSiteName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorListHostingSite"].ToString();
SpVendorListName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorList"].ToString();
erabiliz (SPSite site = berria SPSite(SpVendorSiteName))
{
erabiliz (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{
SPList currentList = web.Lists[SpVendorListName];
Txu specificItem = currentList.Items[vendorId];
itzultzeko berria Vendor(specificItem);
} // using spweb web = site.openweb()
} // using spsite site = new spsite("http://localhost/mizuho")
}
[WebMethod]
// Assumes that the vendor name is unique, from a business perspective
publikoak Vendor GetSpecificVendorByVendorName(katea vendorName)
{
katea SpVendorSiteName; // Name of the actual MOSS site that hosts the vendor custom list.
katea SpVendorListName; // Name of the actual MOSS list containing vendors.
SpVendorSiteName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorListHostingSite"].ToString();
SpVendorListName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorList"].ToString();
erabiliz (SPSite site = berria SPSite(SpVendorSiteName))
{
erabiliz (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{
SPList currentList = web.Lists[SpVendorListName];
foreach (Txu vendorItem urtean currentList.Items)
{
bada (vendorItem["Vendor Name"] == zero) jarraitu;
bada (vendorItem["Vendor Name"].ToString().Berdin(vendorName))
itzultzeko berria Vendor(vendorItem);
}
Vendor v = berria Vendor();
v.VendorPhone = "not found: " + vendorName;
itzultzeko v;
itzultzeko zero;
} // using spweb web = site.openweb()
} // using spsite site = new spsite("http://localhost/mizuho")
} // metodoa
[WebMethod]
publikoak Vendor[] GetVendorsOfType (katea filterType)
{
katea SpVendorSiteName; // Name of the actual MOSS site that hosts t
he vendor custom list.
katea SpVendorListName; // Name of the actual MOSS list containing vendors.
SpVendorSiteName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorListHostingSite"].ToString();
SpVendorListName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorList"].ToString();
Vendor[] resultList;
int vendorIndex = 0;
resultList = berria Vendor[1000];
// Initialize the list with a default friendly message.
Vendor v = berria Vendor();
v.VendorName = "Select a vendor type to populate this list.";
resultList[0] = v;
// Convert the filter to lower case for easier string comparison later.
filterType = filterType.ToLower();
// If the filter type passed is "test", generate some simple data.
#eskualde Filter type = "test"
bada (filterType.Equals("test"))
itzultzeko GenerateTestVendors();
#endregion
bada (Egia)
{
erabiliz (SPSite site = berria SPSite(SpVendorSiteName))
{
erabiliz (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{
v = zero;
SPList currentList = web.Lists[SpVendorListName];
// Iterate through all the items in the vendor list.
foreach (Txu vendorItem urtean currentList.Items)
{
katea lowerVendorType;
lowerVendorType = vendorItem["PurchaseType"].ToString().ToLower();
lowerVendorType = lowerVendorType.Substring(3);
bada (lowerVendorType.Equals(filterType))
{
resultList[vendorIndex ] = berria Vendor(vendorItem);
}
} // iterating thru all the vendors in the list
itzultzeko TrimVendorArray(vendorIndex, resultList);
// return resultList;
} // using spweb web = site.openweb()
} // using spsite site = new spsite("http://localhost/mizuho")
} // if true
itzultzeko zero;
}
pribatua Vendor[] TrimVendorArray(int newsize, Vendor[] originalVendorArray)
{
Vendor[] trimmedArray;
bada (newsize == 0) newsize = 1;
trimmedArray = berria Vendor[newsize];
int currentCounter = 0;
for (currentCounter = 0; currentCounter < newsize; currentCounter )
{
trimmedArray[currentCounter] = originalVendorArray[currentCounter];
}
itzultzeko trimmedArray;
}
}
