Looking for a good reference (Infopath & Sharepoint)

[Dj]

I am in the process of setting up a simple LMS for my company using the
features in SharePoint. The info that SP collects is limited and I believe
the InfoPath is the answer to our needs of collecting additional data (such
as when an employee attends training, their training pay rate for the payroll
department).

I just started playing around with IP and I'm having a hard time figuring
out how go make the data connetion to SP. I'm missing the overall
comprehension of how the two work together and when IP is used to send data
to SP, exactly where the data is being submitted to.

Can anyone recommend a book or website that will give me a better
understanding of how these two products work together. The SP books I have
include little and minimal references to IP and vice-versa.

Thanks in advace, Dj

 

[Clay Fox]

Hey DJ.

This can often be difficult since there are so many different variations to
how both are used.
There are lots of good blogs and posts at http://www.infopathdev.com which
can maybe help you.
To make a really solid enterprise solution I have found that you need a SQL
database on the backend to give you better data control, reporting, and
security. I would recommend you check out the Database Accelerator at
http://www.qdabra.com. I have used it in many solutions and found that it
can really give you a great foundation for building solutions from and can
integrate with SharePoint so you can have the best of each with out fighting
the limitations. I have also created an HR / LMS type solution that is
probably similar. If you would like a demo let me know.
--
Thanks

Clay Fox

Qdabra Software
http://www.qdabra.com

InfoPathDev.Com
The Largest InfoPath Forum in the World
http://www.infopathdev.com

 

[Dj]

Thanks Clay,

I took a look at the first site and there is definately some good info
there. I think the www.qdabra.com might be a bit advanced for me, especially
since I don't have access to the SQL tables in our system. Thanks for your
help and I was able to get my first form published to my library. While I am
able to save the file, I'm still having problems using the submit feature
with the autogenerated name. (I submitted a seperate message to the board
for help on that).

If possible, I would lilke to see what you've done for your HR/LMS. Thanks
for the offer.

 

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

I don't think you'll find the info you require in any book, Dj. The basic
idea is the following: SP can be used as a container for InfoPath forms.
InfoPath forms are just XML files. Where SP is concerned, you can store them
in a form/document library. You would just beoring XML files in SP, just as
you would store Word docs in SP. Where making the connection is concerned,
you can submit InfoPath forms to a SP libray. InfoPath has built-in
functionality for this. Note: There is no built-in functionality for saving
data contained in an InfoPath form to a SP list. The other type of connection
you can make is pulling data from an SP list or library to be used or shown
in an InfoPath form.

In summary: InfoPath is great for collecting data, so you are right to
assume that it would be suitable choice. Submitting InfoPath forms to a
library is fairly easy. The more tricky part will be getting the data out of
the forms (XML files) to be used elsewhere, either in SP or outside of SP.

Where resources are concerned: Try finding a few good SP blogs.
http://www.sharepointblogs.com/ is a good place to start. You can also try
the InfoPath Team blog and this article in particular:
http://blogs.msdn.com/infopath/archive/2006/11/08/submitting-to-this-document-library.aspx

Hope this helps.