InfoPath Forms Services in MOSS 2007

Do you guys know about InfoPath Forms Services in Microsoft Office SharePoint (MOSS) 2007? Well, this allows us to publish user-fillable InfoPath forms without InfoPath. The only thing the users need to fill out the form is a web browser. Funny because it really doesn't need to be IE; Firefox is also OK. Oh I love Firefox! Wink

OK now here's how to do it....

In InfoPath 2007

Yes you're gonna need InfoPath 2007. Sorry, can't use the old 2003.

  1. Create a form template with InfoPath (.xsn) just like the old times.
  2. Open Tools > Form Options menu.
  3. Select "Security and Trust" category, then select "Full Trust" security level.
  4. Check the "Sign this form template" checkbox. Create a new certificate for this.
  5. Select "Compatibility" category.
  6. Under "Browser Compatibility", check the "Design a form template that can be opened in a browser or InfoPath" checkbox. Also check the "Hide errors..." checkbox. Enter the site of the target MOSS site.
  7. Click OK to close the Form Options dialog.
  8. From the Task Pane, select "Design Checker".
  9. Make sure the "Verify on server" checkbox is checked, then Refresh.
  10. If you see any errors, go back to the designer and fix it. Some Warnings are generally OK.
  11. Select File > Publish from the menu bar.
  12. Choose "To a SharePoint server with or without InfoPath Forms Services". Click Next.
  13. Type the URL of the target MOSS site. Click Next.
  14. Select the "Enable this form to be filled out using a browser" option. Klik Next.
  15. I couldn't publish the template directly to MOSS site, maybe because this is still in beta or any other unknown reasons... so InfoPath always asks for a file name to save in this step. Just type a file name and InfoPath will save the template in your local PC. Click Next.
  16. Select the fields to publish as columns in MOSS.

In MOSS 2007

Make sure your MOSS site is running!

  1. Open the Central Administration using a browser.
  2. Click the "Application Management" tab.
  3. Under InfoPath Forms Services, select "Upload form templates".
  4. Browse to the file you saved on Step 15 above. Verify it if you like. Then click Upload.
  5. After the uploading, go to "Manage form templates".
  6. Open the item menu on the newly uploaded template, then select "Activate to a Site Collection".
  7. Select the URL of the target site collection (e.g. http://moss:2007/).
  8. When you're done, open the target site on browser
  9. Select Create from the "Site Actions" menu.
  10. Select Form Library. Give it a name and specify other details, then click Create.
  11. After the Form Library is created, it'll be shown on screen.
  12. Open the "Settings" menu, then select "Form Library Settings".
  13. Under the "General Settings" group, select "Advanced Settings".
  14. Choose Yes for "Allow management of content types?".
  15. For "Opening browser-enabled documents", choose "Display as a Web page". Click OK.
  16. Return to the Form Library Settings, and scroll down. You'll find a new setting: Content Types.
  17. Select "Add from existing site content types".
  18. From "Available Site Content Types" select the newly uploaded form template and click Add. Click OK to save your settings and go back to Form Library Settings.
  19. Under Content Types, you'll see your new form template there. But the standard content type is still there and we have to remove it. So Click the "Form" content type.
  20. Under List Content Type Information, Settings section, click "Delete this content type". Click OK.
  21. OK you're ready. Go back to the Form Library. When you click New, the form is opened directly in your browser!

One annoying thing I found was it's hard to modify a published form template. Because after I uploaded the modified form template, I saw the existing Form Library were still using the old (unmodified) one. Maybe because of the beta status? I don't know. After several failed attempts to make the Form Library recognize the modified template, I finally managed to make it work by... deleting the Form Library and creating a new one.... Sad

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Comments

# Stephen Yip said:

Hi,

I've tried to follow the steps to publish my InfoPath 2007 to MOSS and enable browser-viewing.

However, in step 14 of "In InfoPath 2007", the checkbox

"Enable this form to be filled out using a browser"

is disabled.

Why does this happen? I've checked the MOSS that the InfoPath Forms Services should be enabled on the server.

Please suggest any method to fix it.

Thanks.

Friday, November 24, 2006 4:55 PM