General ??? about the design and preview

[JNariss]

Hello,

I have this InfoPath form that is 155KB which consists of nearly 20
optional section menus. Here is how it works:

1. User opens form and fills in some text fields of name and contact
information
2. User places a check next to one or more of the "Main Menu"
selections. I have choosen to use checkboxes instead of a dropdown box
b/c there are 19 choices off the main menu and depending on what
choices the user makes will open up the sub forms. They are allowed to
choose more than one option off this main menu.
3. Sub forms open and user places checks next to the items they desire
4. User clicks submit and information is sent via email and into the
database.

However............here are the main problems that have come to my
attention:

1. The form takes forever to open
2. When it is open there is a huge area below my submit button. If the
user (or myself) prints this form, we/I get an extra 10 blank pages.

I have tried looking at my design to see if a section or table is
longer than it should be and I can't seem to find anything. Either I
have to check more closely, have someone else check it, or find a
solution to these problems. I don't want to re-create the form again
b/c there are a ton (and I mean over 1000) checkboxs that I would have
to bind.

Any idea???

Thanks a million,
Justine

 

[S.Y.M. Wong-A-Ton]

For the first part of your question: You could take a look at this article
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...bleshootPerformanceBestPracticeGuidelines.asp
for tips on how to improve the performance of your InfoPath forms.

A good practice is to avoid using too much nesting (groups in groups in
groups etc.) in your data source (I'm not sure if this applies to your
situation) and if you have many controls on one single view, to split up
these controls over several views (this applies to your case). One way you
could do the latter is by using a tabbed interface.

 

[JNariss]

Thank you for the advice - I appreciate it. I will look up the article
and see if it helps.

 

[Deborah Jean]

I guessed it was a nesting problem before I checked your answer I think I'm
kinda, sorta getting a handle on this. Thanks again.

DJ