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Goodbye WhoAmI! Hello userName()

  • Article

Anyone who's tried to get the username of the person filling out their form in InfoPath 2003 knows the WhoAmI web service. That was the only way to get the username without writing Visual Basic or C# managed code and using System.Environment.UserName.

 

In InfoPath 2007 we built an easier way.

 

Announcing a new formula function: userName()

Now you can simply set the default value to the current form-filler's username. No code, no data connections, no custom web service. Just use the formula dialog and select the function from the category "All":

 

 

To get a default value like this:

 

 

If that's too easy for you, use it in script

If you're writing script anyway, or if you need to check this value as part of a bigger algorithm and don't want to persist the username anywhere in the form, then you can also access this value in script:

 

Application.User.UserName

 

Of course, you can also use this in C# or Visual Basic, but you could always use System.Environment.UserName, so that's nothing new.

 

Either way requires Domain Trust

For security reasons, either approach will make your form require domain trust, so you'll need to publish the form to a shared location (like Windows SharePoint Services) for the function to work.

 

Enjoy!

-ned

Comments

  • Alex

  • Anonymous
    April 13, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 22, 2007
    I have my InfoPath 2007 form published to a Sharepoint server with FULL TRUST and keep getting 'system' returned by userName() function. Is there any way to overcome that?

  • Anonymous
    January 27, 2008
    i was trying to make a form with a field that contain Employee name i found the best way to do so is

  • Anonymous
    March 29, 2008
    PingBack from http://copyrightrenewalsblog.info/infopath-team-blog-goodbye-whoami-hello-username/

  • Anonymous
    June 19, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    June 23, 2008
    Hi vishwaswamy, As per the information at the beginning of this post, the "userName()" function is new to InfoPath 2007 - as such, you will not find this in InfoPath 2003. Now, if you stated you were using InfoPath "2003" in error, then this function is available in the UI. Here is a sample for finding the function:

  • Add a button to your View
  • Add a Rule to the Button
  • Add an Action to the Rule as follows:     - Action: Set a field'a value     - Field: Select the field where you want to set the user     - Value: Click the "fx" button          - Click Insert Function          - Select "All" in the Categories list          - Scroll to the bottom of the Functions list and you will see "userName" Scott

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2008
    I have a question about using this function. It works find when the form loads. I however am trying to get the function to recalculate after the same form is opened again later. How does this work? Pease point me in the right direction. Thanks.

  • Anonymous
    November 05, 2008
    Hi everyone! I am having what seems to be the same issue that by john@thibeaux.com posts about and I am wondering if anyone has a solution. More specifically, I am trying to get the userName() function to recalculate after the same form is opened by another person. The reason this is important in this effort is that we want to use the response to determine user role so that we can do dynamic view switching in InfoPath. Even more specifically - This InfoPath form is expected to be opened, filled out, or later edited using a browser through SharePoint 2007 form Services. Any responses would be appreciated. TIA

  • Anonymous
    April 04, 2009
    hi I have a problem in this case. I have Used This method but I want that every time someone open the form, it get the new username dynamically. but the form always save the first username it has got. help me please

  • Anonymous
    April 06, 2009
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 29, 2009
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 29, 2009
    Hi Nick, Take a look at this MSDN article as it has the "WhoAmI" web service in there...it's pretty easy to setup: HTTP Security and ASP.NET Web Services http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms996415.aspx Scott

  • Anonymous
    July 30, 2009
    Thank you Scott I''ll give it a shot. Nick

  • Anonymous
    July 02, 2010
    How can i change the view based on user group, I have three groups User,Team member and manager and three forms based on their requirements.

  • Anonymous
    November 10, 2011
    email id: could you please help me. im doing project with ns2. my problem is "how to make a node to dead randomly in ns2

  • Anonymous
    January 22, 2012
    Hi There, How can I get Displayname/Preferred Name out of the username() function. Thanks Eric

  • Anonymous
    March 29, 2013
    From what source does the userName() determine the value? The reason I ask is that we have encountered some cases where it appears that a few users were getting obsolete information. We then add the user to a group under the site collection in which the application is located, and then have the user try again, and the user succeeds. It is as if some users are recognized while others are not. Is there a function that InfoPath could run that would ensure the user would be recognized?