'GetUserProfileByName' via the (hidden) User Information List
- Posted by: Hayden Sinclair
Auto populating details like Name, Username, email address, phone number and department can slice a minute or two off form completion time.
A one minute saving per form, on ten thousand forms a month, will save humanity 166 hours, or one full time equivalent employee!
When developing an InfoPath form on-premise I use the GetUserProfileByName method to populate common user fields, by creating a data connection to
https://sharepoint-agency/_vti_bin/userprofileservice.asmx?WSDL
Try this method on SharePoint Online with Office 365 and you will be rewarded with the "An error occurred while connecting to a Web Service" Error message.
Microsoft have purposefully disabled access to the User Profile service to
Prevent Loop Back issues.
All is not lost.
To populate common user fields create a Data Connection to the (hidden) User Information List located at the top level of your SharePoint Online site.
https://sharepoint-agency.sharepoint.com/_catalogs/users/detail.aspx
You can pull down many of your favourite user details (though not all) to populate your form.