Need help with Infopath terminology

[Kerri]

Hello,

I am learning infopath and I am currently working on a form that I need to
pull data from (excel workbook/Sharepoint list). Moss with excel services
and latest office 2007.

When a user picks a Category from a drop down list at the top of the form;
there is a section that will populate all the data that is under that
category that the user picked and I need it to pull all of the items (the
description and dollar amount) that is listed underneath. How do you get all
of the data under that category name to pull all of its data when the user
is ready to use the infopath to send for approval? When approved, they
would like the form to update the excel sheet. Will all of my questions
asked requires outside coding? If so, can anyone help me with that? I am
not a programmer. I would love help on knowing the correct terminology on
what I am looking for, I hope anyone understands what I am trying to do.

Right now the current data is held in excel and it needs to stay in excel.
Only using infopath from for approvals. How do you do that? Thank you for
your time.

 

[Clay Fox]

Hi Kerri.

You would need to evaluate whether Sharepoint can do everything you need it
to do.

I often use a backend database to store the data, that way it can be
accessed via Excel as well. Depending on your data structure and needs this
may be able to be done with Sharepoint as well.

If you would like to discuss this in detail you can email me here.
http://www.infopathdev.com/members/clayfox.aspx