Developing InfoPath Forms for SharePoint^®: Hands-On

Introduction to InfoPath 2010

Leveraging InfoPath forms in your organization

• Defining the benefits and functionality
• InfoPath Designer
• Forms Services
• InfoPath Filler

Centralizing data collection for business processes

• Replacing disparate forms throughout your organization
• Exploring SharePoint lists and libraries
• Submitting results to SharePoint

Designing InfoPath Forms

Customizing form templates

• Creating form templates for InfoPath Filler and the web browser
• Extending templates to meet business requirements
• Adding input controls to enhance the user experience
• Group controls in sections
• Setting default values in fields or controls

Creating new forms from scratch

• Defining page layout with tables
• Building user-friendly forms
• Applying a consistent look and feel
• Adding repeating tables for many values
• Creating multiple views

Enabling Dynamic Form Interaction

Verifying user input based on business rules

• Configuring control properties
• Applying Quick Rules for easy validation without code
• Validating fields with range, required and format conditions

Conditionally formatting fields

• Changing background colours or fonts
• Hiding and showing form sections in response to user actions
• Building robust cascading drop-down lists
• Executing a query from an action rule

Defining form actions

• Dynamically setting the value of a field
• Querying and submitting data
• Sending information to a Web Part to provide drill-down effect
• Setting field properties to read-only

Accessing External Information

Retrieving data from multiple sources

• Integrating data with the Data Connection Wizard
• Connecting to data sources and SharePoint lists
• Selecting XML and SQL Server data
• Populating controls from a data source

Creating a user interface for business data

• Modifying information inside an InfoPath form
• Submitting changes to the data source
• Loading a repeating table with data

Enhancing Business Processes with Workflow

Initiating workflow actions

• Building a form to trigger a workflow
• Adding a workflow to a form library

Integrating e-mail and tasks

• Coordinating and delegating tasks to information workers
• Embedding the People Picker into forms
• Utilizing form fields throughout the workflow process

Establishing conditional rules

• Directing workflow actions with form fields
• Setting up automatic task reminders

Publishing Forms to SharePoint

Replacing default SharePoint forms

• Submitting to a document library
• Substituting a list default form with an InfoPath form
• Sending a form to SharePoint as a content type

Assessing deployment options

• Creating a form library when publishing
• Promoting items to a form library to extend reporting capabilities
• Utilizing administrator approved templates for complex forms containing custom code

Securing forms

• Exploring security levels within forms
• Authenticating users with digital signatures
• Operating within restricted zones
• Working in full trust security zones
• Hiding parts of the form