Problems with templates and sharing infopath document

[Dave Allen]

I know 0 zero about infopath. I have been using it for about 2 hours.
I grabed a "status report" from another department at my company and am
trying to use it as my own.
I like the form's format so I am trying to use it.
What I have is a template file and individual .xml files for each week.
When I send someone the .xml file they get the error that they do not have
the template.
How do I merge the template into the .xml file
Or how do I have only one file that I can transmit to someone else?

 

[DougieVan]

The xml file is basically just the data with none of the formatting. You need
something (the template in your case it seems) to read (basically, to give
structure to) the xml data.

If you open the xml file in word, near the top, you will see the path that
the xml file is looking for the template.

Usually, you need to publish a template somewhere that all users can access.
You can also send the other user the template and have them save it in the
same path, or edit the xml file (using Notepad or Visual Studio) to change
where it looks for the template.

 

[Dave Allen]

How can I just merge the template into the .xml file so that there is only
one file

Right now I really do not want to setup a sharepoint share or a server share
and publish this with links back to the template.

For this time I just want a single file.

I still have the template but I don't want to have to send multiple files.

 

[DougieVan]

The purpose of an XML file is to store data, not to display data. In order to
display the data, the XML file points to some other display mechanism, such
as an XSLT file, and XML table in a spreadsheet or, in the case of InfoPath,
and InfoPath template.

So, when you send someone an XML file, you are sending that person data in
XML format. If that person were to open the file in another program (IE,
notepad, Visual Studio), he or she would be able to see the data in XML tags.

To do what you want to do, I suggest one of the following:
Publish the template to a shared location and point your XML files to that
location
Send the template to the recipient with instructions to point the XML file
to the shared location
Design your form in Word instead

You can read more about the relationship between an InfoPath template and a
XML file created with InfoPath here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/infopath/HA100626851033.aspx.