InfoPath 2007: Publishing Form to MOSS 2007

Continuing my previous post, to publish your InfoPath Form there are several method and here I will show you the easiest way to publish to Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007).

From you completed design on InfoPath which is fully web compatible and configured, you must save the file to a location (preferably on your local disk so you can update or edit at a later time when necessary).

If you closed the InfoPath 2007 application and want to open it again to publish it, right-click on the file you created and select Design.

To publish go to File>Publish... then a publishing wizard will appear. Select To a Sharepoint server with or without InfoPath Form Services then select next and enter your MOSS 2007 site (include the subsite and document library where you want to publish the form) then select next then check the Enable this form to be filled out by using a browser and select document library on the radio button below it then click next to continue.

Here you can select whether you want to create a new library or update a form template in an existing document library. I would suggest you to create a new library if you haven't prepared any yet and enter a name for it then click next, then in column name, you can enter which columns will appear on the document library list in the MOSS site then click next and click Publish to finish.

Once that is completed, you can finally close the InfoPath 2007 application and open web browser and go to your MOSS site to the document library where you published you InfoPath Form (usually ending with .../Forms/AllItems.aspx) then click on Settings on the top bar of the list and select Form Library Settings.

Under General Settings, click on Advanced Settings on the next page under the third category Browser-Enabled Documents select Display as Web Page then click OK.

Now open a new window, open the document library again and click on the downwards arrow just next to New on the topbar of the list, it should now show two options: New Document and New Folder, select New Document and the InfoPath Form should now appear as a webform instead of firing up InfoPath application. This way clients without Microsoft Office InfoPath can also open your form.

InfoPath 2007: Designing Web Browser-Enabled InfoPath Form

To enable Web Browser capable InfoPath Form, before you want to design anything ensure that all controls are browser enabled (meaning that it is web browser enabled) by going to Tools>Form Options... and select the Compatibility category which is the second last on the left listbox.

Check "Design a form template that can be opened in a browser or InfoPath". Then start designing your form using the available controls (the default controls will reduce and will only show web enabled controls). If you already designed your form and want to only check which controls are incompatible, go to Tools>Design Checker and click on the refresh button on the Design Checker toolbar. If all controls you are using are compatible, no error will appear.

Finally, if you want a submit button (for better user experience since most of forms usually automatically closes and automatically saves data and do all sorts of stuff, go to Tools>Submit Options... and check the Allow users to submit this form. Many options will become available.

To perform a basic submit and save to a sharepoint list, in the Send form data to a single destination, select Sharepoint document library. By selecting this, you must first create a data connection to your sharepoint list.

Click the Add... button and in the Document Library textbox, enter your sharepoint list url, and for the filename, it is recommended entering key information such as ID or anything unique from one another to differentiate form entries. Also include date and time as the filename to prevent duplicates. To do this click on the Fx button beside the filename.

Here you will be presented with a formula textbox. Click Insert Function... select Text from the Category in the left listbox, and select Concat in the Function listbox on the right. You will then be automatically redirected back to the previous formula textbox. Double click on the guide text "double click to insert field" and select which textbox form you want to include as the filename (I would suggest anything about ID). Once selected, the guided text will be replaced by the field you have selected. Now to add date, single click on the second "double click to insert field" and click Insert Function and select Date and Time as the Category on the left side and select Now in the Function on the right side. Delete the third guided "double click to insert field" text or if three is not enough for your preferences, you can add more seperated by coma. It should look something like the following:

concat(field1, now())

This will be the filename of each submitted form using the InfoPath Form Services generated by Sharepoint. Then click next until everything is verified and correct and you will be redirected back to Submit Options. Click on Advanced and more options will show, on the After submit dropdown menu, select Close the form and finally click OK and you almost done.

Save your form before publishing by clicking File>Save.