Negotium Missionem:

Provideat ratio, quod permittit users intrare accurate emptio citius require.

Negotium problema:

Client commercium plures centum concionatorum.

Vendors are "type" specificas. Hoc intelligitur quod velit computatrum vendit venditor (e.g. Dell) vel officium commeatus (e.g. Stapellis).

How do we enable end users who create purchase requisitions select a valid vendor?

Negotium Solutio:

Differentiate vendors in the system via "type".

Enable users to select the "type" of product and then provide a filtered set of appropriate vendors.

Solutio technica:

An InfoPath form has been designed that enables users to enter online purchase requisitions.

Two InfoPath selection lists control vendor selection. Primum, 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.

Lectiones didicit:

• Primum, 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. Autem, 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. Therefore, 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"]. Pro, 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. Hoc, utique, 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. (Iterum, this was easier than fighting InfoPath over ArrayLists).
• I implemented a GetSpecificVendorByName() function as well, which may be instructive.

Codicem:

usura System;
usura System.Web;
usura System.Web.Services;
usura System.Web.Services.Protocols;
usura Microsoft.SharePoint;
usura System.Configuration;

/// <Summary>
/// 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.
///
/// </Summary>
[WebService(Namespace = "Http://www.conchango.com/")]
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
publica genus VendorService : System.Web.Services.WebService
{

/// <Summary>
/// Represents a vendor from a custom sharepoint list maintained by MSUSA.
/// </Summary>
publica genus Vendor
{
publica Vendor() { }

publica Vendor(SPItem initItem)
{
si (! (initItem["Vendor Name"] == nihilo)) VendorName = initItem["Vendor Name"].ToString();
si (! (initItem["Address 1"] == nihilo)) VendorAddress1 = initItem["Address 1"].ToString();
si (! (initItem["Address 2"] == nihilo)) VendorAddress2 = initItem["Address 2"].ToString();
si (! (initItem["City"] == nihilo)) VendorCity = initItem["City"].ToString();
si (! (initItem["VendorPhone"] == nihilo)) VendorPhone = initItem["VendorPhone"].ToString();
si (! (initItem["PurchaseType"] == nihilo)) VendorType = initItem["PurchaseType"].ToString();
si (! (initItem["State"] == nihilo)) VendorState = initItem["State"].ToString();
si (! (initItem["Zip"] == nihilo)) VendorZip = initItem["Zip"].ToString();
si (!(initItem["Fax"] == nihilo)) VendorFax = initItem["Fax"].ToString();
si (!(initItem["SalesRepName"] == nihilo)) VendorSalesRepName = initItem["SalesRepName"].ToString();

VendorItemId = initItem.ID; // Unique ID maintained via MOSS.
}

publica int VendorItemId;
publica filum VendorName;
publica filum VendorAddress1;
publica filum VendorAddress2;
publica filum VendorCity;
publica filum VendorState;
publica filum VendorZip;
publica filum VendorPhone;
publica filum VendorType;
publica filum VendorSalesRepName;
publica filum VendorFax;
}

publica VendorService () {

//Uncomment the following line if using designed components
//InitializeComponent();
}

privatis Vendor[] GenerateTestVendors()
{
Vendor[] resultList;
resultList = novum Vendor[100];

Vendor v;
v = novum 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 = novum 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 = novum 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;

revertetur resultList;

}

[WebMethod]
publica Vendor GetSpecificVendorById(int vendorId)
{
filum SpVendorSiteName; // Name of the actual MOSS site that hosts the vendor custom list.
filum SpVendorListName; // Name of the actual MOSS list containing vendors.

SpVendorSiteName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorListHostingSite"].ToString();
SpVendorListName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorList"].ToString();

usura (SPSite site = novum SPSite(SpVendorSiteName))
{

usura (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{

SPList currentList = web.Lists[SpVendorListName];

SPItem specificItem = currentList.Items[vendorId];

revertetur novum 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
publica Vendor GetSpecificVendorByVendorName(filum vendorName)
{
filum SpVendorSiteName; // Name of the actual MOSS site that hosts the vendor custom list.
filum SpVendorListName; // Name of the actual MOSS list containing vendors.

SpVendorSiteName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorListHostingSite"].ToString();
SpVendorListName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["VendorList"].ToString();

usura (SPSite site = novum SPSite(SpVendorSiteName))
{
usura (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{

SPList currentList = web.Lists[SpVendorListName];

foreach (SPItem vendorItem in currentList.Items)
{
si (vendorItem["Vendor Name"] == nihilo) perseverant;

si (vendorItem["Vendor Name"].ToString().Pares(vendorName))
revertetur novum Vendor(vendorItem);
}

Vendor v = novum Vendor();
v.VendorPhone = "not found: " + vendorName;

revertetur v;

revertetur nihilo;

} // using spweb web = site.openweb()
} // using spsite site = new spsite("Http://localhost/mizuho")

} // methodo

[WebMethod]
publica Vendor[] GetVendorsOfType (filum filterType)
{

filum SpVendorSiteName; // Name of the actual MOSS site that hosts t
he vendor custom list.
filum 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 = novum Vendor[1000];

// Initialize the list with a default friendly message.
Vendor v = novum 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.
#regionem Filter type = "test"
si (filterType.Equals("test"))
revertetur GenerateTestVendors();
#endregion

si (verum)
{
usura (SPSite site = novum SPSite(SpVendorSiteName))
{
usura (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{

v = nihilo;

SPList currentList = web.Lists[SpVendorListName];

// Iterate through all the items in the vendor list.
foreach (SPItem vendorItem in currentList.Items)
{

filum lowerVendorType;

lowerVendorType = vendorItem["PurchaseType"].ToString().ToLower();
lowerVendorType = lowerVendorType.Substring(3);

si (lowerVendorType.Equals(filterType))
{
resultList[vendorIndex ] = novum Vendor(vendorItem);
}
} // iterating thru all the vendors in the list

revertetur TrimVendorArray(vendorIndex, resultList);
// return resultList;

} // using spweb web = site.openweb()
} // using spsite site = new spsite("Http://localhost/mizuho")

} // if true

revertetur nihilo;
}

privatis Vendor[] TrimVendorArray(int newsize, Vendor[] originalVendorArray)
{
Vendor[] trimmedArray;

si (newsize == 0) newsize = 1;
trimmedArray = novum Vendor[newsize];

int currentCounter = 0;

nam (currentCounter = 0; currentCounter < newsize; currentCounter )
{
trimmedArray[currentCounter] = originalVendorArray[currentCounter];
}

revertetur trimmedArray;

}
}