InfoPath & SharePoint Integration

[NeedHelpNow]

I believe that you can create forms (for status reports) in InfoPath and then
move them into your SharePoint document library for users to access and
provide their status reports, etc. I'm not clear on what needs to be in
place for this to occur. Do all users need to have InfoPath on their
computers to access and use the forms? Does everything need to run off of
SharePoint Server 2007? What needs to be in place for the above scenario to
work?

THANKS!

 

[TKO]

I believe that you can create forms (for status reports) in InfoPath and then
move them into your SharePoint document library for users to access and
provide their status reports, etc. I'm not clear on what needs to be in
place for this to occur. Do all users need to have InfoPath on their
computers to access and use the forms? Does everything need to run off of
SharePoint Server 2007? What needs to be in place for the above scenario to
work?

THANKS!

If you're using SharePoint 2003 (WSS2 or SPS2003), then all users will
need InfoPath (2003 w/ SP2+ or 2007) in order to open the form. Note:
InfoPath 2003 will only support connection with SharePoint if you
install SP2+.

However, if you're using SharePoint 2007, there are several options.
If you want the form to be used as a client-app form, then all users
need InfoPath (2003 w/SP2+ or 2007). If you want the form to be used
as a browser-based form, meaning users will NOT need InfoPath, then it
depents on what version of SharePoint 2007 you are running. If you
are using WSS3.0, then you need to puchase FormServer as a seperate
product. If you are using MOSS2007, I believe FormServer comes with
the Enterprise edition.

Several things to note:

- When developing a web-based form, there are a lot of features and
functionalities that are not supported compared to developing a client-
app form, such as custom code, list filtering, rich text boxes,
document attachments, just to name a few.

- InfoPath 2003 will not open forms in the InfoPath 2007 format. If
you are using InfoPath 2007 to develop for users using different
versions, it's best to save the form as 2003 format for compatibility.

- You can only develop web-based forms in InfoPath 2007. InfoPath
2003 cannot create web-based forms.

Hope that helps!

Tony Ko
(e-mail address removed)
Impact Management

 

[NeedHelpNow]

To be clear, what we currently run is simply a SharePoint website that users
access to provide weekly updates to the project status reports. These
reports are relatively simple in nature/design. I want to maintain to the
current situation in which these users access this site weekly and update
their reports; however, I want advanced forms. With Infopath 2007, you can
create much more advanced forms. So, if we're using SharePoint 2007, and
want to run the client-app form approach, adding InfoPath 2007 to the mix
would be the best option, correct? This would allow the above scenario to
work? We would not need the forms server then? Would all users need
InfoPath 2007 to access these advanced forms on SharePoint and update their
reports, or just the form developer?

Thanks a ton.

 

[Kalyan G Reddy MVP (GGK Tech)]

Hello,

Yes as you talk of Advanced Form Options please check the features allowed
on broswer enabled forms else you have to go with Infopath for everyone.

 

[NeedHelpNow]

Sorry to bother you again, but management quickly wants specifics on this,
and I'm out of time to read about it. Essentially what the problem is with
SharePoint is that we can't have a field with a table with repeating rows.
For example, a table with three columns: 1)Target Date, 2)Description of
Deliverable, 3)Actual Date Completed. We need a form with that type of
table. I believe InfoPath 2007 offers this capability, correct? Using
InfoPath 2007 and SharePoint 2007, how will we be able to offer such a report
form on our team's SharePoint web site?

 

[TKO]

To be clear, what we currently run is simply a SharePoint website that users
access to provide weekly updates to the project status reports. These
reports are relatively simple in nature/design. I want to maintain to the
current situation in which these users access this site weekly and update
their reports; however, I want advanced forms. With Infopath 2007, you can
create much more advanced forms. So, if we're using SharePoint 2007, and
want to run the client-app form approach, adding InfoPath 2007 to the mix
would be the best option, correct? This would allow the above scenario to
work? We would not need the forms server then? Would all users need
InfoPath 2007 to access these advanced forms on SharePoint and update their
reports, or just the form developer?

Thanks a ton.

If you want to create client-app based forms, then everyone who needs
to use the form will need InfoPath installed on their client
machine. So, depending on how many users are in your company, the
difference in cost between buying InfoPath user licenses for every
user vs. buying FormServer can be a big difference.

Also, regarding your other question about repeating table rows, yes,
InfoPath allows you to build forms with a repeating table with
whatever columns you need. However, when it is published to
SharePoint, you are limited on how that row of data is displayed.
Remember, SharePoint displays each form as 1 single row, so if you
have a repeating table in the form, then each of the columns in the
repeating table can be displayed as either the latest value of the
group, the first value of the group, or if it's a numeric value, you
can dislpay sum, average, max, min value.