subject: Online Forms In Sharepoint Using Infopath Forms Services [print this page] Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) and SharePoint Server 2010 are bundles of great, efficient, and helpful features. Yes and when talking about its features how can we forget about InfoPath Forms Services, right? InfoPath Forms Services is a server technology that makes it possible for people to fill out forms in a Web browser. By managing forms in a central location, you can streamline business processes and improve relations with customers, partners, and suppliers.
Take advantage of SharePoint InfoPath Form Services and other useful features of SharePoint 2010 hosting, SharePoint Foundation hosting or SharePoint Server 2010 - with shared or dedicated hosting by a SharePoint 2010 hosting provider.
Role of forms in SharePoint solutions
Forms play a significant role in all business process management solutions.
o Form-driven applications start with a form that is used to gather data and add in other SharePoint functionality to process and report on the data including workflows, reporting, custom Web Pages, and external lists.
o Document workflow applications automate document-based business processes. Adding InfoPath forms to workflows lets you gather information from the users at predefined times in the life of the workflow and let users interact with the tasks for that workflow.
o Business data applications start with data in an external system that is made available in SharePoint Server through Business Connectivity Services.
o Ad hoc business processes can be managed by using SharePoint lists. The forms used for creating, reading, and updating items in these lists can be customized by using InfoPath 2010.
o Document information panels use InfoPath forms to display document metadata within the Microsoft Office system client application.
Types of InfoPath forms
o Microsoft InfoPath Designer 2010 is used to create form templates. Form templates define the data structure, appearance, and behavior of a form.
o Microsoft InfoPath Filler 2010 is used to fill out forms that are based on form templates created in InfoPath Designer.
Key features of InfoPath Forms Services
o Custom data validation ensures that users dont submit forms that contain invalid data.
o Customized layout helps simplify the form-filling experience by splitting forms into multiple pages or creating separate views that are optimized for specific users or tasks. Conditional formatting lets you optimize the form-filling experience. For example, you can show or hide fields in the form based on values entered by users.
o Data connections to other sources such as SharePoint lists or Web services let you pull supporting, contextual data into your forms.
All in all, by using InfoPath forms in your SharePoint solutions, you can ensure that only valid, good quality data is gathered. InfoPath 2010 achieves this by letting you standardize, customize, and optimize the process of gathering data without writing any code.
by: Adrian Gates
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