InfoPath with SharePoint 2010 : Dynamically Populate a Repeating Table - Create a Namespace Variable, Access the Secondary Data Source

1. Create a Namespace Variable

Coding with InfoPath involves using XML/XPath objects and methods as well as XPath expressions. A key element in using the XML/XPath methods is the namespace that is used for the XML data retrieval. The NamespaceManager object enables you to look up the namespace. By default, the namespace in InfoPath data is my.

Because the namespace is used throughout various methods in this solution, the first line of code in the changed method is a string variable declaration, as shown in Listing 1.

Listing 1. Namespace Declaration

//Namespace variable
string myNamespace = NamespaceManager.LookupNamespace("my");

2. Access the Secondary Data Source

The next step in the overall solution is to declare objects based on the secondary data source. You need the name of the secondary data source and the XPath of the rows that are returned. To retrieve the XPath of the rows returned, follow these steps:

1.	Switch over to your InfoPath form.
2.	In the Fields pane, switch the data source to the secondary data source. (For this example, it is Offices.)
3.	Expand the datafields folder.
4.	Right-click the repeating group under the datafields folder and select Copy XPath to copy the XPath string to the Clipboard, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Selecting Copy XPath places the XPath string into the Clipboard.
5.	Switch back to the code-behind and paste the XPath into the code as needed.

The secondary data source setup code is shown in Listing 2. Paste the XPath from the previous steps into the XPathNavigator Select method. Place this block of code after the namespace variable.

Listing 2. Secondary Data Source Setup