Infopath: were is it required ?

[Fab]

I'm currenting evaluating the use of Infopath for my intranet
appllications, but I get a bit confused about its installation and
use.

Infopath was installed on several clients with Office 2003, so I
didn't care about their availability.
Now I see that it is not distributed in all the Office 2007 distro.
Indeed, many clients do not have it.

I can make use of a Windows Sharepoint Service (WSS) to host the forms
I intend to develop.

So my question is: Shall I need Infopath installed on ALL the client
computer to let the user to fill the forms to be developed ?

Fabrizio

 

[Steve]

Fab,

If you store your forms in a shared space (WSS library, Windows shared
folder, web site, etc), then anyone who accesses them will need the InfoPath
client to open them. If you implement Forms Services, which is part of MOSS
2007, then your users can access them through the browser.


message
news:8ebd78eb-3b5d-4e04-bafa-b07307468d87@e37g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...

 

[Fab]

Thank you Steve,
I understood that "Form Services 2007" is also available for WSS 3.0.
I will try that.

Thanks for the support!

Ciao
Fab

 

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

While you can use Forms Server 2007 with WSS 3.0 to get Forms Services, Forms
Server 2007 is not available for purchase anymore (see
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/formsserver/FX100490391033.aspx)

If you want to use Forms Services, you'll have to get MOSS 2007.

 

[Fab]

So, let's consider the scenario clarified by Steve: "If you implement
Forms Services, which is part of MOSS 2007, then your users can access
them through the browser".
Here Infopath can be considered as a form DESIGN tool. Then the form
shall be accessed through the browser.
Hence, here I see no big differences than to forms developed with
Visual Studio or similar tools. I'm a right ?

Of course, I'm not considering for sophisticated and optimised
situations were off-line forms (to be used with Infopath) can be
reused through web browsers.

Ciao!
Fabrizio

 

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

Hence, here I see no big differences than to forms developed with

Visual Studio or similar tools. I'm a right ?

Yes, correct. The only difference is how data is submitted and stored (also
see
http://www.bizsupportonline.net/blog/2009/02/save-submit-store-infopath-form-data/).
InfoPath forms are self-contained, that is, once filled out and saved, the
data resides in an XML file. Traditional forms are not self-contained; you
need to send the data somewhere to be stored.

InfoPath was also intended to cut down on the time it takes to create forms,
i.e. rapid form development.

If you just want an interface in a browser and you're going to be sending
the data to a database for example, you could also just create an ASP.NET or
HTML form - there is no need for InfoPath or SharePoint then.

Hope this helps.