Issue
When EnableViewState is set to False on a drop-down list and this list becomes read-only during an action, an unexpected behavior occurs.
The selected item in the drop-down list will no longer be selected after the read-only action, although it will be visible in the form_archive and in the next action. This can then have other impacts on your workflow.
The cause is that the data was not properly sent to the server.
Here is a visual representation of this error.
In the following screenshot, we can see that one list has enableviewsstate set to false and the other one does not:
On the second action of this process, the Request section becomes read-only, so both lists will be affected by this configuration:
Now, let’s do a test.
After the first action, the form_archive contains all of the information and both lists are set to Item 1:
During the second action, the Request section is read-only. After submitting the second action, the form_archive does not contain the correct information for the first list:
Then, when launching the following action, the information that was selected is lost:
Workaround
There is a possible workaround for this unexpected behavior by re-enabling the field during the form submit using the following JavaScript code:
$('#submitButton').click(function(){
$('#[ID_OF_YOUR_FIELD]').prop("disabled",false);
});
In the Form configuration panel, you must have Enable AJAX mode checked on the General tab and Include jQuery API and jQuery UI libraries checked on the Web References tab.
ID_OF_YOUR_FIELD represents the full ID of your drop-down list. For example, if it’s located in the REQUEST section and your drop-down list ID is DDL1, then the full ID will be REQUEST_DLL1, and it will look as follows:
$('#submitButton').click(function(){
$('#REQUEST_DLL1').prop("disabled",false);
});
Note that this solution will change the property of this field for all actions of your workflow.