Real World InfoPath with SharePoint 2010 - List vs Library Forms

Real World InfoPath Usage in SharePoint 2010 – List vs. Library Forms

2 | SharePoint Saturday Chicago 2011

• Nik Patel Solutions Architect, Slalom Consulting

M.S. in Computer Science, IIT, Chicago

Working with SharePoint 2010 since TAP, Summer 2009

Working with SharePoint since SharePoint 2003 days

• Contact Info Twitter - @nikxpatel

Email – [email protected]

LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/nikspatel

Slideshare - slideshare.net/patenik2

Blog – Nik Patel’s SharePoint World - http://nikspatel.wordpress.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://nikspatel.wordpress.com/

http://nikspatel.wordpress.com/


List Forms -– New in SharePoint 2010 Tied to the specific list, Not Reusable Form Schema tied to List Schema Form data stored in the SharePoint List Each control (e.g. text box) in the form is bound to a column in the list.

Key Characteristics Supported on Simple SharePoint Lists like Custom List, Tasks, Announcements, Links,

Contacts from Browser Interface Not supported in Document Libraries and advanced SharePoint Lists like Calendar No support for custom code, repeated tables, custom submit behavior, and print preview Requires SharePoint Designer to customize the External Lists Forms


To customize the out of the box List New Form, List Edit Form, and List Display Forms Ideal for straightforward design and form management experience Ideal for Prototypes Ideal for No-code solutions using SharePoint Designer and Browser Customization for Pre-

Packaged Departmental SharePoint Sites designed on production farm. Do not use List InfoPath Forms in formal code management and deployment scenarios from

development to staging to production. To use forms offline with SharePoint Workspace


• Have SharePoint 2010 Server Enterprise CAL Installed

• Have InfoPath Form Services Enabled (by default, it’s enabled)

• Have InfoPath Designer 2010 Installed Prepare

• Design SharePoint Lists (optionally Site Content Type)

• Customize List Forms using InfoPath Designer 2010 - UI, Views, Rules, Receive Data Connections on the List Forms

Design

• Publish List Forms to the SharePoint Lists

• Three New Forms (Add, Edit, and Display) and InfoPath Form Template deployed to the Content Databases

Deploy

• Update SharePoint Lists or Site Content Type Schema

• Customize List Forms again using InfoPath Designer to Sync List Changes

• Republish the List Forms to the SharePoint Lists Upgrade

• Delete InfoPath List Forms from the Form Settings Page from List Settings Retract/Cleanup


Library Forms – Tied to the form libraries – Same as SharePoint 2007 Key Characteristics

Form data stored as the XML document in SharePoint Form Library More complex and requires more disciplined/structured approach Can be deployed as Sandbox or Farm Level Solutions

Publishing Mechanism Single Library

Deploy to specific form library Not reusable in another library Only one form template per form library, Same benefits as list InfoPath forms

Reusability across Site Collection - Multiple libraries or sites within Site Collection Deploy as a Content Type Enables deployment to multiple document libraries Supports multiple content type per library

Reusability across Farm - Multiple Site Collections or Web Applications Deploy as a Administrator Approved Deploy as features and solutions framework, PowerShell, or manual upload


Form Templates with Code Form Templates with Tabular Structure (Nested or Repeated Data) or Complex Schema Form Templates with Printing Support from Ribbon Bar Form Templates with Custom Submit Behavior Great fit for Enterprise Level Form Solutions with Advanced and Reusable Functionality Admin Approved forms eases future enhancements, upgrade, maintenance, and

deployment Fits perfectly in formal deployment process of moving features from development to

staging to production.


• Have SharePoint 2010 Server Enterprise CAL Installed

• Have InfoPath Form Services Enabled (by default, it’s enabled)

• Have InfoPath Designer 2010 Installed

• Have Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Applications Installed- Select VSTA in the InfoPath Installation tree of the Office Professional Plus 2010 Installer

Prepare

• Design browser compatible InfoPath Form Template using InfoPath Form Designer 2010

• Define UI, Views, Rules, Code, and Publishing options

• Define the Receive and Submit Data Connections

• Promote Form Fields as SharePoint Fields and Web Part Connections

• Run the Design Checker on the InfoPath Form

Design


• Convert the Data Connections as UDCX file

• Publish Form Template as Admin Approved as XSN file

Package

• Deploy UDCX in the Data Connection Library in Site Collection or Central Admin

• Upload the Form Template using Central Admin

• Activate the Form Template on Site Collection from Central Admin or Site Collection Feature

• Create the Form Library in SharePoint

• Add the new InfoPath form template content type to document library

• Define the Form Library Views to display Form Template Fields

Deploy


• Update InfoPath Form Template using InfoPath Form Designer

• Re-publish the InfoPath Form Template as Admin Form

• Re-upload the InfoPath Form Template from Central Admin. No need to activate to the site collection and all the existing form libraries should be upgraded.

Upgrade

• Deactivate the form template at the site collection from Central Admin or Site Collection Feature

• Remove the form template from the Central Admin

• Remove the WSP file from the Farm Solutions Page

• Cleanup - Delete following content from the Site Collection manually or programmatically.

• Delete the Forms Document Libraries

• Delete the Data Connections

• Delete the Site Content Types and Site Columns

Retract/ Cleanup


Integrate InfoPath forms into SharePoint pages using the InfoPath Form Web Part Promote and Demote the InfoPath Fields to the SharePoint Document Library as a Site Columns to

build advanced views in SharePoint Promote InfoPath Fields as Web Part Connection Parameters to connect InfoPath Form Web Part with

other SharePoint Web Parts to build mash-ups Promoted fields can’t be used in Sandboxed Form Templates with Code, It must be Admin

Approved Forms Integrate workflows on the SharePoint Lists or Document Libraries for business processes .(e.g.

Approval Workflow) Optionally customize the Workflow Association, Initiation, and User Tasks forms

CustomProgramming Integrate InfoPath Forms programmatically into custom application or site pages using the

XmlFormView control Extract InfoPath Forms programmatically to access the InfoPath data from InfoPath Object Model


http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/infopath-help/infopath-2010-features-unavailable-in-web-browser-forms-HA101732796.aspx






















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Real World InfoPath with SharePoint 2010 - List vs Library Forms

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