Beginning SharePoint® Designer 2010

Chapter 9. InfoPath Integration

This chapter switches gears a bit to talk about an application called Microsoft Office InfoPath 2010. InfoPath, which is a form generation tool that has been part of the Office suite since 2003, has become an integral part of the SharePoint products and technologies. In this chapter, you discover how you can use InfoPath easily and efficiently to manage SharePoint list and library forms. You also learn about the InfoPath Form web part that ships with SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise and lets you expose InfoPath forms alongside your other SharePoint components.

THE PATH TO GATHERING INFO

When InfoPath 2003 was released as part of Office 2003, it was ahead of its time, because it was the only product within the Office suite that utilized the power of XML in its inner workings. An InfoPath form is based completely on an XML schema and offers structural editing of the XML data. It is the most appropriate platform for gathering data in the Microsoft Office suite of applications, and the user interface provided is very much like Microsoft Word, so the ramp-up time for a new form designer is minimized. You can build dynamic data-driven forms without needing a programming background.

The latest revision of the product is Microsoft InfoPath 2010. The fluent interface (ribbon) has been introduced in the product, which now provides it a consistent look and feel with the other Office products. Two InfoPath applications are available — Microsoft InfoPath Designer ...