More than one way to write code: Visual Studio and InfoPath

If you need to write some Visual Basic or C# code behind your form, or maybe just some script, there are a few different tools you can use depending on which versions of InfoPath and Visual Studio you have.

Here's a quick table summarizing it all:

	InfoPath 2003	InfoPath 2007 Beta
No Visual Studio	Microsoft Script Editor (MSE)	Microsoft Script Editor (MSE) OR Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA)
VS .NET 2003	InfoPath 2003 Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET	Not supported (use MSE or VSTA, above)
VS 2005	InfoPath 2003 Toolkit for Visual Studio 2005	Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office (InfoPath 2007 Support) (related post)

Note that both Microsoft Script Editor (MSE) and Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) come with InfoPath 2007 Beta, so you can open them from the Tools | Programming menu. If you don't see the one you want, change the language in Tools | Form Options. If it gives you an error that it's not installed, here's how to install them:

If you are going to install VSTA, make sure you have the pre-requisites first:
- Microsoft Core XML Services 6.0
- .Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0
Go to Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs
Select your Office installation and click Change
In the Office Setup wizard select to add features
Find Microsoft Script Editor (under Office Tools) and/or Visual Studio Tools for Applications (under InfoPath > .NET Programmability) and select Run from my computer
Finish the wizard