Infopath Implementation: Is my idea possible?

[DrNASA]

Our HR department likes to send out surveys for the employees to fill out
anonymously regarding different things, and the Operations department does
the same thing for over 100 musicians.

At this point, they are creating the documents in Word and emailing them, at
which point they are printed off and dropped in a box.

After a cursory look at InfoPath I thought this was the answer! The HR girls
(not very technically pre-disposed) can create nice looking survey forms and
then I can post them to our Intranet site for employees and muscians to fill
out anonymously. The data can be sent in an email to HR or I can build a
little database that would collect all of the data.

I have successfully created a test form, but cannot post it to the web
server.

Is what I want to do possible, or will I need to look at another software
solution or God forbid, code this all in ASP / HTML myself?

Thanks!
- Dallas Symphony

 

[Nic Roche]

then I can post them to our Intranet site for employees and muscians to

fill
out anonymously.

My understanding is everyone would need InfoPath installed for read/write
forms...

The HR girls
(not very technically pre-disposed)

Some training would be needed...

I have successfully created a test form, but cannot post it to the web
server.

What error response are you getting?


Nic Roche

 

[Jack_Feeman]

Hi,

I foound the same to be true, that all who use the XML forms generated in
InfoPath must have the application. Since Infopath is part of the Office
Systems 2003 Enterprise Edition, this should be but an installation error.
Our IT did a complete install on my machine but when they rolled it out (SMS)
to all employees they elected not to include InfoPath in the install
instructions. Now they will have to roll it out again since we plan to make
it the main form generator in our SharePoint network. I love the merging of
data of all the forms functionality.

Also did you "publish" the form instead of simply saving the form? I found
this to be a key point also.

Jack

 

[DrNASA]

Right, I know about each client needing the app installed and can do that
easily through SMS 2003.

I have tried publishing it to the web server, but it does not work.

 

[Jack_Feeman]

Hi again,
I relooked at my publishing our form and these ideas are just some possible
ideas..

Did you get an error message when you published your form? If not you may
have published it, but just don't realize it. In order to see the form, you
must click the Fill out this form button in the form library you created when
you published the form.

One way I checked to make sure my form was published was after publishing it
to a SharePoint site, I closed it and selected "File>Open from a ShaprePoint
Site". The dialog box will display all installed forms (libraries) on the
site. At least you know if it is recognized by the system.

Sorry I couldn't offer more.

Jack

 

[DrNASA]

I'm getting an error saying that a network problem prevented the page from
being uploaded.

I opened up all of the permissions to see if that would fix it, but it did
not.

Do we need to implement SharePoint for this to work? If so, that sucks, the
last thing I want is another MS Server implementation.

Thanks

 

[Jack_Feeman]

I have published successfully a form to a network share with no problem. (I
used the File>Publish>To a shared folder on this computer or network). It
doesn't ask for a special forms folder to be created like with SharePoint.
The only problem I have with publishing it to a network share is if the form
was originally published to a SharePoint Forms Library and I try to republish
that same form to a network share, it keeps trying to access the SharePoint
library.
• Creating a folder on the network share to store all submissions of the form.
• Create a form in InfoPath and publish it to that same network folder.
• Open the form from the network share and choose fill out this form from
InfoPath.
I think that should work.

Kack

 

[DrNASA]

Ok, so does InfoPath not support a save option where it would basically
convert it to an ASP or HTML page that would let you post to another page,
because that is what I am driving at.

 

[Jack_Feeman]

You can save the forms as an .xml form but it looses its functionalty.

I offer an alternative that we are using for certain types of forms. The new
Acrobat 7 Professional is packaged with a new standalone form generator which
allows forms to be generated incorporating digital signatures, indexing, all
the normal form controls, and saved as a PDF file. The main advantage here is
that to complete the form as well as many other actions, the only app
required is the free Reader 7. Try the Trial version and see if it works for
you.

Jack