InfoPath 2010 Scaling up 1 to 100

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InfoPath 2010: Scaling up from 1 to 100.

Chris GristBeach Energy

SharePoint Saturday Adelaide 2012

About Me

• SharePoint Architect / Coordinator for Beach Energy

• MCITP / MCPD for SharePoint 2010• Twitter: @griStdoG• Mail: [email protected] • Blog: www.cube4.com.au

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.cube4.com.au/


Session Agenda

• InfoPath 2010 Overview• InfoPath Adoption• Building a Forms Factory• Universal Data Connections• Template Parts• Starter Forms


What is InfoPath?

• Form building tool for making standalone forms, and SharePoint list forms

• InfoPath 2010 is actually two different products• Only available in Microsoft Office 2010 Professional

Plus• SharePoint 2010 (and 2007 as well) have the capability

to have a SharePoint document library (form library) contain a collection of InfoPath forms– Essentially, you associate a form with a document library,

and the resulting answered forms are the contents of the library


More on InfoPath

• Types of Forms– InfoPath based form (i.e. InfoPath Filler)– Web Based Forms (i.e. InfoPath Form Services)

• Enterprise CAL is needed to be able to:– Use a SharePoint list with InfoPath forms– Publish SharePoint library forms as web based

forms– Works on SharePoint Online! (Plan 2)


InfoPath Features

• Various UI Controls• Layouts (pre-designed table formats)• Themes• Multiple Views• Rules (Validation, Formatting, Action)• Data Connectivity


What’s new in 2010?

• Ribbon interface• Quick Rules• New Rule Manager• New Rule Inspector• SharePoint List Forms• Quick Publish• InfoPath Form Web Part


What are rules?

• Rules add logic to your form and/or form controls (without code!).

• There are three types of rules


What about our data?

• Various data connections available


How can we use it?

• InfoPath can be integrated with SharePoint 2010 in several ways– Design and publish a form to SharePoint that

becomes its own Library– Use InfoPath to enhance and existing List/Library– Publish to a Forms Library and point an InfoPath

Form Web Part at it– Integration with Workflow to provide advanced

forms (Initialisation, Modification, Task Forms)


So Why’s it great?

• Great Business Process Client – Create electronic form “apps” for all of your business processes– Reduce errors – auto-fill, spell-check and validate using rules– No code required! Less creation and maintenance costs– Included in Office = familiar look-and-feel

• Great Web Client– Published forms render as web pages that accept data input– Faster fill-in – speed up data entry from external data sources– InfoPath Web parts let you create mash-ups with multiple forms– Submit to back-end servers – SharePoint, SQL, Web services

• Out-of-the-box – No Developers, IT Staff, or SharePoint Admins required!


INFOPATH OVERVIEWInfoPath 2010 Scaling up from 1 to 100


InfoPath Adoption

Now, you’ve got forms…

How do you scale to 100+ forms…


A Solution


InfoPath Forms Factory

• Use SharePoint to store re-usable data.– Create XTPs for common sections– Create UDCs for common data– Create Starter forms– Distribute to Form Designers


What are UDCs?

• UDC = Universal Data Connection• UDCs provide data connection information to

InfoPath• UDCs are XML based• UDCs are stored in a Data Connection Library


UNIVERSAL DATA CONNECTIONSInfoPath 2010 Scaling up from 1 to 100


Why UDCs?

• Data connections are hard to create• UDCs let you create once, and• Reuse in all your forms, and• UDC updates don’t require republishing

forms• Quickly add to new form templates too


What are XTPs?

• XTP = XML Template Part• Introduced in InfoPath 2007• Create using InfoPath Designer• Save as .XTP (2007) file or .XTP2 (2010)• Add to InfoPath Designer as Custom Controls• Drag and Drop into a Form Template (XSN) to

add


Unsupported FeaturesUnsupported Features

Active X Controls User Roles

Information Rights Mgmt. Digital Signatures

Multiple views Print SettingsPage Settings Code

Publishing Color Schemes

Merging Form Export

Submit Mixed Namespace Editing


TEMPLATE PARTSInfoPath 2010 Scaling up from 1 to 100


Why XTPs?

• Lots of forms with common sections• Save time with section re-use• Just drag and drop• Share with multiple designers• Quickly build forms


What are Starter Forms?

• Just a normal form!• Develop consistent forms– Colours, fonts, themes– Common Headers: Logo, Tagline, Title etc– Common Footers: T&Cs, Version etc.– Common Data Connections


STARTER FORMSInfoPath 2010 Scaling up from 1 to 100


Why Starter Forms?

• Consistent forms• Save time• Longer Coffee Break


So What’s Next?

• Launch Your Form Factory– Create XTPs for common sections– Create UDCs for common data– Create Starter forms– Distribute to Form Designers


QUESTION AND ANSWERInfoPath 2010 Scaling up from 1 to 100


Related Links

• http://cube4.com.au My blog lots of InfoPath

• http://infopathdev.com Great InfoPath forums

• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/infopath/ Official InfoPath Blog

http://cube4.com.au/

http://infopathdev.com/

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/infopath/

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/infopath/

SharePoint Saturday

Thanks for listening!

Remember to submit your feedback so you can go into the raffle draw at the end of the day! And don’t forget that

you have to be at the draw to claim your prizes!

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Date post:	18-Nov-2014
Category:	Technology
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InfoPath 2010 Scaling up 1 to 100

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