On Feb 11, 2009, I spoke to a crowd of 30 people at the Hawaii SharePoint Users Group. The topic covered the concepts behind InfoPath and Workflow, then walked them through how to create electronic forms with InfoPath for the Enterprise to streamline the complex processes. The videos for the session have been posted: Part 1: http://blip.tv/file/1859983
Part 2:
http://blip.tv/file/1862620 Here's session outline:
Part I InfoPath
1. InfoPath has both client and server components
1) InfoPath 2007 Client
2) InfoPath Forms Services
i. SharePoint 2007 Enterprise
a) Business Data Catalog
b) BI and Excel Services
ii. Rendering forms
2. We demo-ed how to use InfoPath to design and publish a form template
1) Using InfoPath to design form templates and fill-out forms
i. Design browser-compatible form template
ii. Deploy a browser-enabled form template
iii. Apply Data Validation and Rules. Data validation works in the browser without requiring round-trips to the server.
iv. Apply conditional formatting (conditional formatting: The process of changing the appearance of a control, including its visibility and read-write state, based on values entered into the form.),
v. The Cascading drop-down is great (try doing it in WebPart)
2) Publishing the form template
i. InfoPath Form Services, part of the SharePoint Enterprise, provides a central location to store and manage form templates, enables users to fill-out the form in a Web browser
3) Uploading the Form Templates
i. stsadm.exe -o UploadFormTemplate -filename
4) Activating the form template to a site collection
i. stsadm.exe -o ActivateFormTemplate -url http://MOSS –filename
5) Ensuring Web-enabled InfoPath form, be sure that the following setting is used in the Form Library Advanced Settings page: Display as a Web Page (instead of Open in the client application)
6) Using XMLFormView WebPart to embed the form inside the page
i. XSNLocation: ~sitecollection/FormServerTemplates/ITRequestForm.xsn
ii. In Form Templates library
3. Key concepts behind InfoPath
1) SharePoint converts the form template to a Solution and deploys it as Feature
2) The form template is published as a content type (content type: A reusable group of settings for a category of content. Use content types to manage the metadata, templates, and behaviors of items and documents consistently. Content types are defined at the site level and used on lists and libraries.).
3) Activation is the process that is used to turn features on or off in a site collection to make form templates available for use.
4) The “XmlFormView” web part is located in the assembly Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server.dll and an entry needs to be added in web.config’s “SafeControls” element.
<SafeControl Assembly="Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" Namespace="Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server.Controls" TypeName="*" Safe="True" />
4. InfoPath timeout question (from Michele Miller)
1) It is not the Data Connection Timeouts in Central Admin under Configure InfoPath Forms Services
2) It is the timeout under Central Administration > Application Management > Configure Session State
The default was 60 minutes.
Part II Workflow
1. Key concepts
1) Workflows à Set of activities à Building blocks
2) Run within a Host process
3) Can develop custom activity libraries
2. OOB Workflows and their InfoPath forms
1) Included in .NET 3.0 that powers WSS Workflow
2) Forms are used for
i. Configuring Workflows
ii. Starting Workflows
iii. Completing tasks
3) Office 2007 Client integration
3. Workflow developing tools
1) SharePoint Designer (SPD)
i. content specific workflow
ii. rule based notification
2) Visual Studio 2005, 2008
i. Data external to SharePoint
ii. Reusable Workflows
4. Demo-ed creating a Workflow with SharePoint Designer
1) Rules wizard
2) Building blocks
i. Send mail
Part III Q&A
1. To host and enable browser-compatible form, you need MOSS enterprise. You can still store an InfoPath form template on WSS as document but that requires InfoPath 2007 Client to use it.
2. To use Workflow in SharePoint, you need minimum WSS. You don’t have to have MOSS but MOSS does provide OOB workflows
a. You have to use ASPX Forms for Workflow