Developing Solutions with Microsoft® InfoPath™

Chapter 3. Creating Smart Forms

This chapter introduces several techniques for creating "smart" InfoPath forms. InfoPath forms are highly customizable and extensible. With some up-front planning, you can create forms that are easy to maintain and that the user can fill out in the most efficient way. We will cover four main topics—conditional visibility, data validation, autopopulation, and master/detail controls for repeating data—and use example forms to demonstrate techniques. Some of the techniques accomplish overlapping goals—for example, the goals of dynamic filtering for conditional visibility are closely related to the goals of master/detail controls for repeating data. The examples will give you a clear idea of how and why you should use ...