Sick of InfoPath? Come get sicker…
a quick look into developing no-code business
forms for the curious cookie
Presenter: Hector Perez
Special Thanks to our Platinum Sponsor
…and our Gold Sponsor
Bio
• Admin/Dev for LDS Church
• Exercise Science
• Babe – never been stumped on a pop culture/movie question
• Baby – specimen
• Football (soccer)
• Shoes
/Heckshmek_SP
/pub/hector-perez/42/a90/992
Agenda
• InfoPath Intro
• BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
• Form building tips and pointers
What’s this form thing?
• A Microsoft forms software
fully integrated with SharePoint
allowing for rapid development
of forms solutions
• Used to design forms that
submit to SharePoint lists and
libraries
• Versions: 2003, 2007, 2010,
2013 - the FINAL version
BIG ANNOUNCMENT from Microsoft
InfoPath to be retired…
"Industry trends and feedback from our customers and
partners make it clear that today’s businesses demand an
intelligent, integrated forms experience that spans
devices. We are looking to make investments that allow
you to easily design, deploy, and use intelligent,
integrated forms across Office clients, servers, and
services -- forms that everyone can use on their PC, tablet,
or phone. Our goal is to deliver tools that are flexible and
agile, so you can quickly connect to your data and
processes in new and exciting ways."
http://blogs.office.com/2014/01/31/update-on-infopath-and-sharepoint-forms/
BIG ANNOUNCMENT from Microsoft
1. “…there will not be another version of the InfoPath
2.
Support:
desktop
client
or InfoPath
Forms Services. We are focusing
3.
Continue
using
InfoPath
4.
Migration:
“We’ll
provide
more
details on
migration
•all
The
InfoPath
2013
client
will
be
supported
throughforms
April
of
our
investments
on
new
intelligent,
integrated
5.
New
form
capabilities?
scenarios
andacross
guidance
in technology.”
Q4 of CY 2014.”
experiences
Office
2023.
“We’ll be sharing updates throughout the year, with a sneak
•peek
InfoPath
Forms
Services
for SharePoint
Server 2013 will be
in March
at the
SharePoint
Conference.”
supported until April 2023.
• InfoPath Forms Services in Office 365 will be supported
until further notice.
Tips and Pointers
List vs. Library forms
• List
•
•
•
•
•
Form uniquely tied to list
Each control you add is saved as a column in list
Flat data
Saves to list the form is tied to
“Main Data Connection” set up by default
• Library
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Templates designed can be published to different form libraries
Saved items stored as XML files on SharePoint
You “promote” fields to publish to SharePoint library
You define save locations
Complex business rules
Repeating or nested data
Managed code
Tool Set
• That Ribbon
List
Library
Tool Set
• Fields and Rules Panels
• Rules
• Validation
• Formatting
• Action
“Fishing” for changes?
• InfoPath Designer 2010 vs. 2013
• No major change
• Online Pics
“Rigg” it your way…
• Wireframe and plan out form flow
• Using the ribbon options vs. buttons with rules
• If using workflow with form, plan on how that will interact
with submitted form data etc. (i.e. trigger fields)
Views
• Create multiple views
• List Form - Create a Display view (read only)
• Form Options  select a Display View
• Views and Form Load rules
Drop-Downs
• Manually enter options
• Get options from other fields in form
• Get choices from a LIST
• Allows for management outside of form
• Sort drop down?
• Modify data connection
The POWER of queryFields
• queryFields vs. dataFields
Layout & Visuals
• Use tables to stay organized
• Use sections to show and hide fields and buttons
• Use simple (button) images for workflow visualization
Rules of people pickers
Example:
I want
to get email
user
enteredpickers
into
• Work
around
for running
rulesofoff
of people
people picker.
Create validation check before submitting
• Avoid that annoying SharePoint error…
• Disable your Save/Submit button
• Use a view to inform user they are missing a required field
List URLs
• New Item
/<SiteName>/Lists/<ListName>/Item/newifs.aspx
• Existing Item
/<SiteName>/Lists/<ListName>/Item/displayifs.aspx?List=<List
GUID>&ID=1
ID is unique to list item – useful for building dynamic links via
workflow
Form Library URLs
• New Item
/<SiteName>/_layouts/15/FormServer.aspx
?XsnLocation=/<SiteName>/<Library>/Forms/template.xsn
&SaveLocation=/<SiteName>/<Library>
&OpenIn=Browser
&Source=/<SiteName>/<Library>/AllItems.aspx
Form Library URLs
• Existing Item
/<SiteName>/_layouts/15/FormServer.aspx
?XmlLocation=/<SiteName>/<Library>/<DocumentName>.xml
&OpenIn=Browser
&Source=/<SiteName>/<Library>/AllItems.aspx
2 Query Parameters for Library forms
• &OpenIn=Browser
• &Source=/<SiteCollection>/<Page>
• Used to redirect user to specified location within the same site collection