Is InfoPath a worthwhile investment? Some views please.

[Eric G]

Hello all,

We like many other corporate users have InfoPath as part of Office 2003 Pro. We are now looking into the possibility of developing on-line forms, available both on the intranet and on the web, but have some questions.

I've spent a couple of days looking at InfoPath, and excuse me if I'm wrong, but to me the product look clumsy and unfinished, a bit like Microsoft OneNote. Also, it doesn't really look like a Microsoft product, why I would surmise, that it's brought in from the outside.

I've also spent some time on the Adobe Designer 7.0, that again appears primitive to me, even though it is new release of an old products, previously call Forms.

Ok, on the positive side, I would probably say that it appears as if InfoPath might be easier to learn for us, as we're long-time users of other products in the Office products range (+/- 20 years with MS products), but then, who isn't?

But then on the other hand, the .pdf format (which is the result format for Adobe Designer) is most certainly more widespread than InfoPath, and consequently more widely accepted as common format. Or?

Can I please have your esteemed views on the choice on one over the other? Both pros and con's.

Any input is much appreciated.

Best regards,


Eric G
Stockholm, Sweden

 

[Kenneth]

Eric,

I also consider me as a new user of InfoPath even though I have been using
it in the last three months. It is a unique product that are dofferent from
its siblings of Office. It is easy to use if you just want to design a simple
form, but a steep leaning curve if you want to develop a serious application.
In the mean time, you will also appreciate the beauty and power of XML after
you master the product. It would make some very tough program tasks very easy
jsut because it use XML as its storage format.

Also InfoPath + SharePoint Service or SharePoint Portal Server will give you
another layer of power.

Adobe Designer may be your better chioce if your target form is always PDF.

Thanks

Kenneth, Toronto, Canada.

 

[bratt]

Like any tool, look at what you are trying to do with the tool.
A crescent wrench can loosen a lot of bolts but can destroy difficult
ones and still not get the job done.

Pro:
- provides quick easy interfaces to databases and web services
- has lots of built in niceties - spell check, data validations that
are easy to implement (good user input features)
- intergrates with share point services

Con:
- hard to leverage some common programming aspects since forms work off
data changes not user interface events
- must have licensed client program on all user's machines (may change
in future)
- not a great reporting/print layout - PDF much more of a standard

Pro and/or Con:
- will change in future version

 

[Eric G]

Thanks Kenneth & Bratt,


Good and valid points. Thanks for the input both of you. Any other views?

One problem of organizations today is that we try to become more efficient on lesser resources, move less paper around, but we will still need forms for various input tasks tasks and to satisfy regulators and CPA's. And printed forms will be around for a very long time to come. Therefore, it's important to find the right application tools early on in the development phase, hence my question.

Now, Adobe's Designer 7 also use the XML Form Object Model, as the underlying technology storage architecture, as will the upcoming Office suite do, so there I think both products are on the right path.

Best regards,


Eric G
Stockholm, Sweden


Hello all,

We like many other corporate users have InfoPath as part of Office 2003 Pro. We are now looking into the possibility of developing on-line forms, available both on the intranet and on the web, but have some questions.

I've spent a couple of days looking at InfoPath, and excuse me if I'm wrong, but to me the product look clumsy and unfinished, a bit like Microsoft OneNote. Also, it doesn't really look like a Microsoft product, why I would surmise, that it's brought in from the outside.

I've also spent some time on the Adobe Designer 7.0, that again appears primitive to me, even though it is new release of an old products, previously call Forms.

Ok, on the positive side, I would probably say that it appears as if InfoPath might be easier to learn for us, as we're long-time users of other products in the Office products range (+/- 20 years with MS products), but then, who isn't?

But then on the other hand, the .pdf format (which is the result format for Adobe Designer) is most certainly more widespread than InfoPath, and consequently more widely accepted as common format. Or?

Can I please have your esteemed views on the choice on one over the other? Both pros and con's.

Any input is much appreciated.

Best regards,


Eric G
Stockholm, Sweden