Runtime for InfoPath?

[RickH]

Has Microsoft ever considered selling a runtime for InfoPath?
My company has forms that are used for gathering data. We really don't want
the user to be able to access anything other than fill out our form and email
the results.

Since the users only have email over very slow intermittent connections,
they install the form from CD or when they have a fast connection. Most usage
is done by satellite connection while out at sea. The form is then emailed,
which works well over very slow connections.

We want to ramp this up for thousands of users, over the next few years. I
figure buying runtime licenses would be cheaper than buying thousands of full
versions of InfoPath, and be much easier/cheaper to support.

Offering a runtime could open a huge market for InfoPath forms.

 

[Sundar Narasiman]

Rick,

I think, you are looking at a runtime infrastructure like ASP.NET runtime
(or) .NET Framework runtime. I don't think it's there rightnow. It would be
interesting to see if microsoft comes up like that.

For your case, i'd recommend to you think of Browser Enabled Infopath Forms.
You don't need to install Infopath software using CDs on 1000's of users'
desktop.
You can host browser enable Infopath form either in ASP.NET site or in
SharePoint site

 

[Clay Fox]

This is an interesting concept.

I would recommend using webservices since these are lighter weight and the
timeouts for slow connections can be controlled. I have also done some
off-line solutions. The advantage over stand alone is that they can review
previous information or not have to enter all of the informaiton each time.

For more information check out the Database Accelerator Suite at
http://www.qdabra.com

This could be used in conjunction with a web based form if you do not have
InfoPath licenses.

Another thing I have found which works well over satellite conections is
terminal services. You set up several terminals with InfoPath and then
multiple users can login and use the forms remotely. This works much better
than pulling applications over the satellite connection.
--
Thanks

Clay Fox

Qdabra Software
http://www.qdabra.com

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

 

[zeon]

Sundar, is this true only for InfoPath 2007? I've tested creation of web
pages from 2003, but they appear to be just InfoPath xsn files deployed on a
webserver, and not true web pages. Thanks!!!

 

[Sundar Narasiman]

Zeon,

Browser Enabled Infopath form is there only for Infopath 2007. It's not for
Infopath 2003

 

[RickH]

Most of my clients and my business model use InfoPath to send data in by
email, since they have very slow, intermittent Internet connections that work
OK for email, but hardly work at all for any Web browser based solutions.
They call up forms locally, work with them for a while, then email the data
back to a SQL Server.
On some of the connections, we can't even get a Web page to display, but
email works fine.
I expect to need several hundred copies of Infopath over next year, and grow
from there. It wouldn't be so bad if InfoPath was included with Office, but
it's a separate purchase. My solution needs Outlook, InfoPath, Excel, and
Word, and it's only cost effective for large companies who buy corporate
versions of Office qwith all included.