Beginning InfoPath™ 2003

17.3. Using InfoPath and SharePoint

By using InfoPath with SharePoint, you can add a great deal of versatility and functionality to your InfoPath forms. You can do a number of tasks such as:

• Publish an InfoPath form onto the site for people to fill out with data stored in each table using XML, and publish some of the fields in a list.

• Sort the list based on values promoted from the InfoPath form.

• Add a Web part to display a graph for each of the values.

You see how to perform these tasks in the following section.

One thing to remember when using an InfoPath form with SharePoint is that if you are using a database for the data source of the InfoPath form, then the user's machine and SharePoint site have to have access to it. For this reason, it is best to use a Web service or simply store the data in XML format when using InfoPath forms with SharePoint.

17.3.1. Publishing an InfoPath Form on a SharePoint Site

You can use any InfoPath form you create on a WSS site, with the data connected, just as you would on your desktop. One of the convenient features of SharePoint is that even if you have your data in separate XML files behind your InfoPath forms, you are able to promote fields to the SharePoint site list, and both sort and query on those fields. The way to put the form up on a WSS site is to publish the form on the site, in a document library. InfoPath creates a new library if you tell it to.

To publish an InfoPath form on a SharePoint site, you need to provide the Publishing ...