InfoPath - external data from SharePoint List error

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I had this error "The operation could not be completed" when trying to connect to a SharePoint List as an external data connection in InfoPath today.

Show Details just says "Unable to connect to the SharePoint site."

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Figure: The message box really doesn't tell you anything.

Turned out, I was testing with a new managed path on http://server/sites/TravelFunds/  But the web application did not have a site at the root path.  So the quick fix was to create a new team site (blank site might work too) at the root path http://server/ and then come back to InfoPath, and http://server/sites/TravelFunds/ will now work as expected.

 

This was one of many posts that I read regarding similar problems, and the one that actually applied to me.  http://vspug.com/ssa/2010/03/15/infopath-2010-cannot-connect-to-sharepoint-2010/