This is an Sharepoint 2013 InfoPath question. I am using Office 365.

I have two sharepoint listone is "Contacts" and the other is "Projects".  The "Contacts" list has ID, Contact Name and Works For fields.  The "Projects" list has field named Project Manager.

I have a "Projects" InfoPath form that has a dropdown box bound to the Project Manager field. I need to be able to select the correct Contact Name from  "Contacts" and put that selection in the Project Manager field.

A problem arises when there are multiple contacts with the same name.

Let's say that I have three Contact Names in the "Contacts" list called Jim Smith. 

Contact Name	Works For
Jim Smith	ABC Company - Dallas
Jim Smith	DEF Company - Chicago
Jim Smith	XYZ Company - Los Angeles
Sue Good	XYZ Company - Seattle

   

I want to be able to select the Jim Smith that works for XYZ Company in Los Angeles, with a dropdown list box on the "Projects" form bound to the field named Project Manager.  I can make the data connection and pull up Jim Smith from Contacts, but I cannot identify which Jim Smith to select. The only way to do that is to have the list pull up the Contact Name and Works For at the same time. This is easily done in an Access dropdown list, but I cannot figure how to do It with a InfoPath dropdown list.

How do I get a dropdown list box to select two columns at once?

H2OJay

What I would do is create a column in the contact form that concatenates the two fields together. Then in your dropdown, display that concatenated field.

Thanks for your response. I have tried this before, but the problem I have is that the Works For part of the concat displays the stored value (1) rather than the display name (XYZ - Los Angeles). This would work perfectly if I could get the concat to display the name. Can you tell me how to do this?

Hi,

According to your post, my understanding is that you wanted to have the list pull up the Contact Name and Works For at the same time in InfoPath.

Please follow the steps as below:

1. Create a calculated column named Project Manager in "Contacts list, the Formula is =[Contact Name]&" "&[Works For].
2. Open the "Projects" list, customize Form.
3. Add data connection to the "Contacts list.
4. Add a Drop-Down List Box control.
5. Right click the control, get choices form an external data source.

    6. Publish the Form.

    7. Open the "Projects" list, new item:

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Best Regards,

Li

I'm sorry to take so long to respond, but I have been traveling for some time now.

The problem I have is that the [Works For] field in "Contacts" is a lookup field from the Sharepoint list "Firms".

Sharepoint Designer does not make the field available to add as part of a formula. I can type it in, but it will not  let me save it.