InfoPath Forms and Workflows in SP 2010
Wylde Solutions
Sydney SharePoint User Group
18 September 2011
Sydney, Australia
Agenda
InfoPath Forms InfoPath 2010 Forms & Form Templates Usage in SharePoint 2010 Demo
Workflows Workflows and SharePoint 2010 Standard vs. Custom Authoring tools Demo
Q & A
InfoPath 2010
InfoPath Designer 2010
InfoPath Filler 2010
InfoPath Forms Services
Forms & Form Templates
Form Templates are form designsCreated using InfoPath DesignerHosted or standalone
Forms are XML documentsFilled using InfoPath Filler or browserCan be submitted anywhereContain link to Form Template
Usage in SharePoint
Custom List Forms
Form Libraries
External List Forms
Workflow: Association, Initiation, Tasks etc.
Demo
Three repositories: Custom List, Form Library, External List
Also related lists: Incident Source Types, Incident Types
Database contains three tables to replicate the data structure
Creating and/or modifying InfoPath forms for SharePoint lists
InfoPath in SP2010 - Advantages
Easy and quick way to generate forms for Custom and External Lists
Great WYSIWYG form designer
Extensibility
Limitations of Custom List Forms
• No support for document libraries
• No support for managed metadata columns
• No way to publish somewhere else and/or reuse
• No way to generate form for content type
• No support for custom code
Limitations of Form Libraries
• Need to create a form library though it’s not always a business requirement
• For columns of type Person there is not standard way of passing the values
Limitations of External List Forms
No custom code if use with External Item Pickers
No support for additional Data Sources
Common InfoPath Limitations
Browser-enabled forms lack true Web experience
More or less complex scenarios require strong technical knowledge
Printing capabilities
Workflows in SharePoint 2010
Business process automation
Workflow management system
Standard vs. Custom
From http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepointdesigner/archive/2010/02/22/overview-of-human-workflow-in-sharepoint-2010.aspx
Workflow Authoring Tools
SharePoint Designer 2010
Visio 2010 Premium
Visual Studio 2010
Etc.
Demo
Scenario Incident submitted -> BU Manager is notifiedBU Manager investigates and if severity is high then
notifies Operations ManagerOperations Manager provide outcomes and if
required notifies external people
Workflow Management in SP 2010
Advantages Easy to create, modify and publish sequential workflows New features for visual authoring and tracking and new
steps and functional improvements Flexible and extensible platform built on WWF Form customization is pretty easy
Disadvantages Lack of interoperability between standard tools SharePoint Designer workflows can be only sequential
and UI is not user-friendly Need strong technical knowledge to create complex
workflows
Q & A
Your questions and suggestions
http://wyldesolutions.com/SharePointQuestions.aspx
Resources
http://claytoncobb.wordpress.com/
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/infopath/
http://wyldesharepoint.blogspot.com
Reference
Slava Gorbunov – [email protected]
Web site: http://wyldesolutions.com
Blog: http://wyldesharepoint.blogspot.com
Twitter: @SlavaGorbunov