Why Infopath?

[postings]

Hi

I just inspected Office 2003 today. I just don't understand how
Infopath fits in Microsoft strategy, esp when Access is included in the
Office 2003 suite?

Surely Access is the app of choice for most users using Office who want
a basic front end database platform, and .NET (winforms/webforms) for
most developers. SQL Server of course complimenting it all. (p.s. just
toeing the Microsoft line here, I'm sure there are plenty of non MS
products that do the job well).

I am just confused as to how Infopath fills a gap in the Microsoft
product line? It just seems like yet another product to learn?
Please correct me in my thinking.....

Cheers!

Alex

 

[Franck Dauché]

Hi,

I think that InfoPath is the tool that allow you to provide a user-friendly
interface to edit or generate XML documents. This is not what Access is all
about.
Why don't you watch the beginning of the video below where an overview of
the product is given:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=127821

Hope that it helps.

Regards,

Franck Dauché

 

[RickH]

InfoPath is an XML based form designer.
It is best used to gather data from users, massaging it when necessary,
and adding it to SQL/Access/XML data source.
And fairly user friendly--simple forms don't require much programming
experience.
I can create a basic user form to edit a SQL table in a few minutes,
that is user friendly and looks decent.
Nothing else can compare.

 

[Jose Emilio Leon]

Hi,

InfoPath comes into play to fill the gap between Word and Excel for
developing forms, but no ordinary forms used for input into applications,
forms documents used in organizations. For example: expense forms, vacation
forms, new product development form, quality measurement forms, etc.

Some forms were done in Excel because they needed complex calculations, and
some were made in Word because they needed advance formatting. With InfoPath
you can do both things in one product.

Also you have the values of the form in XML, a structure format for
representing information allowing you to use it in workflow applications for
example or integrate it with other systems.

HTH,

Jose Leon
SkyXoft
It's not just workflow. It's about the process.
http://www.businessandprocess.com

 

[postings]

Great thanks for these starter points....

Alex