InfoPath Team Blog

InfoPath 2010 Public Beta is Here!

infopath — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:50:00 GMT

The InfoPath team is excited to announce the release of the Office 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 public betas! For the 1st time members of the public can download InfoPath 2010. Download it now from www.microsoft.com/2010!

Here are just some of the highlights in this new release. (For more details, see our earlier What's New in InfoPath 2010 post).

Quick and Easy Form Design

Designing good looking forms has been made easier with our new page layout templates, layout tables, and themes.
With our new out-of-the-box rules and improved rules management UI, you can easily add rules to validate data, format your form, or perform other actions with just a couple of clicks, and without any code.
Our new “quick” publish functionality allows you to publish forms in a single click (no more clicking through the Publishing Wizard every time you want to make an update to your forms!)
New Controls include the picture button, signature line control and person/group picker which is now available out-of-the-box in the controls gallery.

SharePoint Integration
Over the past 3 years of product development, we’ve made huge investments in integration with the SharePoint platform to make it much easier to build rich forms-based applications on top of SharePoint Server 2010.

Using InfoPath, you can now extend and enhance the forms used for creating, editing and viewing items in a SharePoint list.
With the new InfoPath Form Web Part, you can host your forms on portal pages without writing a single line of code.
With SharePoint sandboxed solutions, forms with code can be published directly to SharePoint libraries without requiring administratror approval.
Richer browser forms:Bulleted, numbered, and plain lists, multiple selection list boxes, Combo boxes, Choice group and sections, and Filtering functionality are now supported in browser forms.
InfoPath Forms Services Administration and Management: We have invested in many improvements to make it easier to manage InfoPath Forms Services as a component of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. These include Powershell commandlets to automate tasks and SharePoint Maintenance Manager Rules to monitor the health of your server.

Introduced since the technical preview, InfoPath now supports connecting to REST Web Services.

Go download the beta now and send us your feedback using Send-a-Smile.

Enjoy!

The InfoPath Team

New Office and SharePoint 2010 Developer Workshop available on Channel 9

infopath — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:28:00 GMT

This week, Channel 9 launched two new training courses for SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 created by developers for developers. You’ll find extensive instructor recordings from top MVPs on how to develop against both SharePoint and office 2010.

InfoPath is featured in:

Office 2010 Developer Roadmap - Office 2010 Development Tools - This video provides an introduction to building solutions for Office and SharePoint 2010 using Visual Studio 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010, InfoPath 2010, and Access 2010.
InfoPath 2010 and Forms Services - This unit which contains 4 videos covers development of custom SharePoint List Forms and workflows, publishing InfoPath Forms and connecting external data to InfoPath Forms.

What is InfoPath 2010? - This video introduces the capabilities of InfoPath, the form design experience, InfoPath Forms Services and the InfoPath Form Web Part
List Forms using InfoPath 2010 - This video covers how to develop a no-code, custom InfoPath form for a SharePoint List, publish the InfoPath form and then connect the InfoPath form to another List as an additional data source.
Working Offline with InfoPath 2010 - This video discusses offline support for InfoPath 2010 with SharePoint Workspace 2010 and the online/offline synchronization process.
InfoPath 2010 and Visual Studio - Developers can enhance InfoPath 2010 forms with Code Behind using Visual Studio Tools for Applications. This customization can be done in either C# or VB. This video also explains how SharePoint isolates custom code in its Sandbox environment.

SPC Recap: Create Form Driven Mashups with the InfoPath Form Web Part

infopath — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:04:00 GMT

The recent SharePoint Conference ended with a bang as Nick Dallett showed participants how they could create rich enterprise mashups by using InfoPath to create dynamic web parts without writing code.

Nick showed off the new InfoPath form web part and demonstrated how easy it is for business users to use the web part to create composite applications together with other web parts that ship out of the box in SharePoint 2010, as well as custom web parts created by developers.

Nick started by defining what an enterprise mashup is, pointing out three key points:
- They are created by *business users*, not IT
- They feature one or more sources of enterprise and public data
- They provide visualizations of that data which helps users make better, faster, and more efficient decisions.

He then went on to present 9 different scenarios where InfoPath was used as part of an enterprise mashup. Each mashup illustrated a slightly different angle of the two design patterns that underlie all of the examples:

The Connection-oriented design pattern, where web parts communicate using part-to-part connections, and
The List-oriented design pattern, where web parts communicate by virtue of the fact that they are connected to one or more related lists

1. Channel Analyzer (IDV Visual Fusion)
(Design pattern 2 – list-oriented)

Scott Caulk from IDV solutions (http://www.idvsolutions.com/) gave a brief demonstration of an application built on their Visual Fusion product. Visual Fusion is a rich Silverlight-based web part which allows users to aggregate multiple sources of data from the enterprise or the web, and visualize it in Bing maps. Scott showed how a marketing manager for Litware books can use sales data plotted on the map to determine where a new promotional event may have the most impact. The manager then clicks a button to fill out an InfoPath form to schedule a new marketing event. Once submitted, data about all marketing events that have been scheduled is displayed on the map alongside the sales data.

2. Customers and orders
(Design pattern 1 – connection-oriented)

Nick had some fun with the next two demos, which center around Contoso Office Supplies, where Nick moonlights as a salesman (wink wink). After showing us the custom InfoPath form that he uses to display data from his customer list, Nick’s cell phone rang on stage, and after a brief moment of confusion (is he really going to answer a call in the middle of a presentation??), Nick let us know that the call was from Karie, the office manager over at Fabrikam. It was all part of the show! Karie wanted to know what pending orders she had so that she could put together the order for this week. Nick showed how he could quickly pull related orders information into the display form’s web part page with just a few clicks, and was able to give Karie the information she needed. Now that the web part page was modified, clicking on any customer in the list brought up not only their company information, but their pending orders as well.

Key concept: pull in related data using the “insert related list” action.

3. New Order form
(design pattern 1 – connection-oriented)

Once off the phone, Nick put together a page from scratch displaying his customer list, with a list of orders for the currently selected customer, and an order form that was prepopulated with the customer information. He explained the two connections that allowed him to filter the orders list based on the ID of the selected customer, and to tell the form to populate itself with customer data using a filter on a data connection to the customers list. (NOTE: filtering and parameterized sharepoint list queries are both now supported in browser forms for SharePoint 2010!).

Key concept: filter a data connection based on an incoming connection parameter.

4. Customers master-detail
(design pattern 1 – connection-oriented)

Nick pointed out that the simplest web part mashup to build is a master-detail scenario for a list with a custom InfoPath form. He threw a list view onto a web part page, added an InfoPath form web part, and simply set up a connection using the “Get Form From” action to specify both the form and the connection to the list in one go. Now, selecting a customer in the list displays the form for that customer alongside the list, allowing for quick access to data across multiple customers.

Key Concept: build master-detail pages using the “Get Form From” connection action.

5. Office Dogfood Voting
(design pattern 2 – list-oriented)

This mashup was an alternate implementation of a solution used at Microsoft to track the quality of Office builds. As people install new builds and use them in their daily work, they can submit votes on whether the build is a good one (thumbs up) or a turkey (thumbs down), with some details. The mashup page shows a list of builds, with aggregated information about votes cast about that build, and calculated columns which determine a rating for that build based on the number of yea or nay votes. Nick demonstrated how the form works by submitting the vote to the underlying Votes list and then displaying a “Thank you” view to the user. He then showed the workflow that increments the “for” and “against” counters for a build based on the submitted vote.

Key concept: use data in a list to drive workflow and influence the display of other web parts.

6. Microsoft Helpdesk
(design pattern 1 – connection-oriented)

Next, Nick showed a page with two InfoPath forms and a list. The Helpdesk form is an updated version of the form demonstrated in many of our InfoPath 2007 conference presentations. It’s a rich form which shows a dynamically determined set of fields and values based on a problem category and problem area chosen by the user in a set of cascading dropdowns. Based on the chosen category, the form sends a filter parameter, using the new Send Data to Web Part rule action, to filter a list of known solutions related to the problem category.

A second InfoPath form in the page shows information about the logged-in user. This display-only web part uses a query against the userprofile web service in SharePoint to bring in information from the User Profile Store.

Key Concepts: filtering dropdowns in the browser, using the Send Data To Web Part rule action, creating display-only web parts using InfoPath.

7. Loan calculator
(design pattern 1 – connection-oriented)

This demo showed how to use InfoPath to create a rich form that drives complex calculations in an Excel workbook hosted in Excel Services. Nick used the Loan Calculator from Office Online, and a simple custom InfoPath form, put them both in a web part page, and then used SharePoint Designer to set up a multiple filter value connection between the form and the workbook. The form adds default values, data validation, and visual pizzazz to the powerful calculation engine of Excel to create a compelling composite with no code.

Key concepts: connecting InfoPath forms with Excel, using SharePoint Designer to specify multi-valued connections.

8. Insurance claims processing
(design patterns 1 and 2 – list AND connection oriented)

Nick showed a 4 part mashup centered around an insurance claims manager looking at claims submitted by customers in the wake of a violent storm. Clicking on a claim in a list view shows the location of the claim in a custom web part using Bing maps, a photo of the damage in the Image Viewer web part, and an InfoPath form which allows him to assign an adjuster based on the geographic location and set a priority based on the damage photos. The map shows all of the claims in the list (design pattern 2), but accepts a list item ID as a connection parameter, and centers the map on that pin when a list item is selected (design pattern 1). Finally, clicking on a pin in the map displays the original form submission in a popup dialog using the showPopupDialog( ) javascript method.

Key concepts: combine design patterns for complex scenarios, use Bing maps in custom Web parts, display InfoPath forms using showPopupDialog( ).

9. The Microsoft Giving Campaign
(design pattern 2 – list-oriented)

The final mashup of the day was built around the Microsoft Giving Campaign, which happens this time each year. Employees are encouraged to donate to their favorite charities, and the donations are tracked to get an overall picture of employee giving. The Give web mashup shows three web parts, including an InfoPath donation form, a chart web part showing aggregated donations by business division, and a custom Silverlight web part showing progress towards the campaign goal. (The custom part is a project that Mike Ammerlaan from the SharePoint team demonstrated earlier in the week in his talk on creating web parts using Silverlight.). This mashup features a similar structure to the Office Build Voting mashup shown earlier, in that there is a single list which contains all employee donations, and a second list which lists donations by business division. Submitting a donation to the Donations list kicks off a workflow which updates the Divisions list with the new total donation amount. The chart web part (which ships with SharePoint 2010) shows the breakdown of donations by division, and the Silverlight gauge web part shows a graphical representation of the total number of donations relative to a fixed goal.

Key concepts: using custom Silverlight web parts, chart web part

InfoPath 2010 Performance Highlights

infopath — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:40:00 GMT

At last week's SharePoint conference in Las Vegas, Rick Severson, a test lead on the InfoPath product team presented a session called Performance Best Practices for SharePoint Forms Services 2010. This session covered best practices and performance improvements in InfoPath 2010. In this post, we will cover the highlights from this session.

InfoPath Team Members who attended SPC:

(From Back Row Left to Right: Daniel Witriol (Program Manager Lead), Darvish Shadravan (Technology Specialist), Rick Severson (Test Lead), Nick Dallett (Program Manager Lead), Roberto Taboada (Program Manager), Bojana Duke (Program Manager), Peter Allenspach (Group Program Manager), Umut Alev (Development Lead))

We had about 100 people in the room for this deep dive of InfoPath performance best practices. Rick opened the session by defining what fast forms are. He used a sample 1040EZ form to demonstrate a "lightning fast form" out of the box. In InfoPath Forms Services 2010, we've improved performance by achieving initial form load times of .8 seconds and subsequent form loads of .4 seconds. A sample passport form with 60 controls and some simple rules and data validation was used to demonstrate that requests per second (RPS) have increased. With this form, 1200 requests can be processed per second. That's a total of 2.1 million users per hour.

Rick then moved on to cover some of the scalability highlights in this release.

Requests per second (RPS) have doubled.
We can now scale out to 8 Web front ends for a single backend.
Performance of SharePoint lists that have been customized using InfoPath is comparable to the default, out of the box SharePoint lists.
Forms with Sandboxed code can process 340 RPS in a 1x3 topology
Our new State Service allows for better scaling and faster session performance
We’ve ported many fixes into 2007 SP2 so you can take advantage of many of these performance gains today

Performance improvements include -

Our new, enhanced rich text control which is optimized for multiple instances on a form
OnHover rendering of secondary data which improves rendering time
Performance in customized SharePoint lists ensures that you get the richness of InfoPath without sacrificing performance
New State Service
Optimized .js for Ajax behavior rendering

In the next part of the session, Rick covered some best practices for optimizing the performance of your forms. He focused on the following 4 areas - Data Connections, Controls, Data size and business logic.

For optimal performance, he recommended that you filter data at source rather than returning large data sets when querying data sources.
InfoPath 2010 users can now take advantage of our new browser form filtering capabilities.
Users should avoid running data queries on form load and instead run them on demand.
It's a good practice to combine data queries with other actions, such as view switches to minimize the number of postbacks.
To further improve performance, we recommend that you reduce form complexity, avoid out of context controls and avoid postbacks.
When possible, you should take advantage of first request optimized forms. You can do this by avoiding logic in your form that has to be calculated on load. For example, if you use a default value of DateTime.Now(), then this has to be calculated on load so the form cannot be first request optimized.

The key takeaways from this session were high performance out of the box, complex solutions can be tuned easily and performance matters!

Additional Resources for improving the performance of your InfoPath forms:
Designing Browser enabled forms for Performance in InfoPath Forms Services
http://blogs.msdn.com/infopath/archive/2008/05/09/designing-browser-enabled-forms-for-performance-in-infopath-forms-services.aspx

Capacity Planning Document For IPFS
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc879113.aspx

InfoPath Forms Services 2007 Web Testing Toolkit
http://www.codeplex.com/ipfswebtest

InfoPath 2010 is unveiled at the SharePoint Conference

infopath — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:51:00 GMT

As many of you may know, the SharePoint Conference 2009 is taking place this week in Las Vegas, Nevada and it's been a particularly exciting week for the InfoPath product team. Over the past 3 years of product development, we have made huge investments in integrating with the SharePoint platform. Finally, this week, we got the opportunity to unveil the fruits of these investments to the world, and so far, the reception has been tremendously positive! (Check out what people are saying about InfoPath 2010 on Twitter.)

SPC is taking place at the Mandalay Bay Hotel:

InfoPath Booth:

(from left: Umut Alev - development lead, Peter Allenspach - group program manager, Rick Severson - test lead):

InfoPath 2010 is well represented at this year's conference with a total of 5 sessions. The 1st session took place on Monday and was presented by Peter Allenspach and Bojana Duke from the InfoPath program management team.

The InfoPath session drew big crowds:

The session opened with an introduction to InfoPath 2010, followed by 3 feature demos which illustrated just how easy InfoPath 2010 makes it for Information Workers to create their own solutions without reliance on IT departments. Some highlights below -

InfoPath 2010 Overview:

Demo 1: Customizing a SharePoint list form

In this demo, Peter and Bojana walked through a real Microsoft internal College Recruiting scenario. Employees use SharePoint lists to sign up for recruiting trips. Bojana wowed the audience by taking the Recruitment Trip list form and customizing it in InfoPath in under a minute!

Peter and Bojana then went on to show how this form could be further enhanced and customized. Our new out of the box rules were used to add data validation and to conditionally show or hide sections in the form. A data connection to the Colleges list was added to pull details about the colleges into the recruiting trip sign-up form. The form layout was customized using our new pre-built layout tables and themes. They then showed how in a single click, the form could be published to SharePoint. Not only that, but they then showed how the list, including the customized form could be taken offline in SharePoint Workspace.

Last but not least, they opened the form in Firefox showing that you can use your browser of choice to fill out your forms.

Before Form:

After Form:

Offline Form in SharePoint Workspace:

Demo 2: Creating Mashups using the InfoPath Form Web Part
The 2nd demo took the Recruiting scenario to the next level. In this demo, Bojana created a simple portal page with 2 Web Parts, the Recruiting trip list and the new InfoPath Form Web Part. In only a few clicks, she connected the 2 Web Parts. Now when she selected an item in the recruitment list, the details for that trip were displayed in an InfoPath form.

Portal Page:

They concluded the 2nd demo by showing that both SharePoint solutions and InfoPath forms are truly portable and reusable. The site was saved as a template (WSP) and a new site was created from this template. The SharePoint list, portal page and InfoPath form were fully functional on this new site.

Demo 3: Office Business Applications: Procurement scenario
In this final demo, Peter and Bojana showed the audience how InfoPath helps IT departments develop full Office Business Applications on the SharePoint platform. They used a procurement scenario to demo these capabilities. In this scenario, an employee submits a request to purchase a new laptop computer. The solution used an InfoPath form that connects to a vendor database, that brings in details about the goods you can purchase.

Procurement Form:

This type of application can be built in SharePoint Designer, using web part pages to create the user experience. The data can be stored in form libraries, SharePoint lists, and external systems using Business Connectivity Services. If InfoPath rules don’t do the job of defining the desired form behavior sandboxed or full trust code can be added to the forms. SharePoint workflows can be used to send e-mail notifications and track status. And once you’re all done, you can package your application so it can be tested and eventually deployed to the production servers.

Procurement Portal Page:

This first session set the stage for the remaining InfoPath sessions of the week:

Building Applications with InfoPath and SharePoint Designer (this session took place on Tuesday - more details to follow)
Performance Best Practices for Forms Applications
InfoPath 2010: Form Design Best Practices
Form-Driven Mashups using InfoPath and Forms Services 2010

Stay tuned for more updates from Las Vegas!

InfoPath 2010 Overview Video

infopath — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:55:00 GMT

Check out the InfoPath 2010 overview video created by the InfoPath Product Marketing team on http://www.microsoft.com/officebusiness/office2010/. Click on the Videos tab and then click the InfoPath link.

New Demo Video Posted: Creating Forms in InfoPath 2010

infopath — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:56:00 GMT

The first in a series of feature demo videos created by the InfoPath Product team is available for your viewing pleasure on Youtube.

In this video, Bojana Duke, a Program Manager on the InfoPath team, covers the basics of creating forms in InfoPath 2010 using some of our great new features including Page and Section Layouts, Quick Rules, Rules Manager and the Picture Button control.

To learn more, check out the video on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKJ3A12RfE8.

Office 2010 Technical Beta recruiting update and contest rules

infopath — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:54:00 GMT

Hey folks,

Since we posted the information about the Office 2010 technical beta a couple of weeks ago, and our "Win an XBox" contest, we've had quite a few folks sign up for the program. Welcome to all the new folks in the technical beta! There are still slots available for folks interested in InfoPath, and we'll continue to take nominations until we're full.

Please note that the Technical Beta is different from the Technical Preview program. Individuals and companies who are accepted into the Technical Beta sign a non-disclosure agreement and get access to both Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010.

The InfoPath 2010 Technical Beta Solution Contest is open only to members of the Technical Beta. In order for you to come into the program by being sponsored by the InfoPath team, you must indicate on your nomination form that you are primarily interested in InfoPath. Also, you must include a valid e-mail address so that we can contact you to invite you into the program.

Here are the official eligibility rules for the contest:

******************************

CONTEST DESCRIPTION:

This is a skill-based Contest. The object of this Contest is to create a video demo of an application built by the entrant using Microsoft InfoPath 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. For purposes of this Contest, each video demo you create and submit in the Contest will be called an “entry.” All eligible entries received will be judged using the criteria described below to determine the winners of the prizes described below.

WHAT ARE THE START AND END DATES?

This Contest starts at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time (PT) on 8/1/2009, and ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on 10/15/2009 (“Entry Period”).

CAN I ENTER?

You are eligible to enter this Contest if you meet the following requirements at time of entry:

· You are actively enrolled in the Office 2010 Technical Beta program with a valid program ID and are a legal resident of the 50 United States and District of Columbia, or Canada; and

o If you are 18 of age or older, but are considered a minor in your place of residence, you should ask your parent’s or legal guardian’s permission prior to submitting an entry into this Contest; and

You are NOT an employee of Microsoft Corporation or an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary; and
You are NOT involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Contest; and

· You are NOT an immediate family (parent, sibling, spouse, child) or household member of a Microsoft employee, an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary, or a person involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Contest.

This Contest is void outside the geographic area described above and wherever else prohibited by law.

******************************

The full rules of the competition, including instructions on how to submit your video demo, are posted on the official forums that are accessible to members of the Technical Beta.

The link to nominate yourself for the program is here: http://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=3343&SiteID=160&InvitationID=Beta-PRJM-HVCM

I'm really looking forward to seeing the great solutions you come up with using the great new features in InfoPath 2010 and SharePoint 2010. Thanks for your continued support!

-Nick Dallett

Lead Program Manager, Microsoft InfoPath

InfoPath 2010 feature videos

infopath — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:15:00 GMT

Check out some of the new InfoPath 2010 features in action in the following videos on youtube:

InfoPath 2010 Richer Browser Forms

InfoPath 2010 Picture Button

InfoPath 2010 Oneclick Publishing

What's New in InfoPath 2010?

infopath — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:20:00 GMT

Here's a quick overview of some of the great new features in InfoPath 2010. Stay tuned for upcoming posts with more details!

Microsoft InfoPath 2010 makes it easier than ever to design electronic forms. InfoPath now includes the Office Fluent UI and allows the creation of powerful, interactive forms, without having to write any code. With a few clicks, Office users can customize SharePoint list forms, add custom layouts and rules to validate the data, and take them offline in SharePoint Workspace.

IT professionals can create custom forms for document workflows and Office Business Applications that include managed code, digital signatures and that connect to line of business data.

In InfoPath 2010, we’ve made some big investments to make it much easier to build rich forms-based applications on top of the SharePoint Server 2010 platform.

Quickly Design Forms with Easy-to-Use Tools
New features to help you quickly and easily create forms include our new Fluent UI, pre-built layout sections, out-of-the-box rules, improved rules management, and varied styles.

The New tab in the Designer Backstage presents you with the available form templates that you can choose from. Most templates start you off with a default layout table.

Stay tuned for more details on our new and improved form design features!

Layout your Forms Using Pre-built Page and Section Layouts
Laying out your form and making it look more attractive is now easier than ever. Insert one of our pre-built page layouts to give your form structure. Then, insert some section layouts into the page layout to start building your form.

Page and Section Layouts in InfoPath Designer:

New and Improved Controls
We’ve added some new controls and narrowed the feature gap between client and browser forms, ensuring a more consistent form filling experience for all our users.

New controls in InfoPath 2010 include:

Picture buttons – Instead of the default gray button, use any image as a button in your form.
Hyperlink capabilities –Allow users to insert their own hyperlinks when filling out forms.
Date and time picker – Allow users to insert dates and times in their forms
Person/Group pickers – Updated! This is now a first class control and is included by default in the Controls gallery.
Signature Line (Editor Only) – Allow users to digitally sign a form

Controls and functionality that are now supported in browser forms include:

Bulleted, numbered, and plain lists, multiple selection list boxes, Combo boxes, Choice group and sections, and Filtering functionality.

Add Rules to your Forms
With our new out-of-the-box rules (or quick rules) and improved rules management UI, you can easily add rules to validate data, format your form, or perform other actions with just a couple of clicks, and without any code.

Quick Rules in InfoPath Designer:

Publish Forms Quickly
Our new “quick” publish functionality allows you to publish forms in a single click (no more clicking through the Publishing Wizard every time you want to make an update to your forms!)

Create Forms for SharePoint Lists
Using InfoPath, you can now extend and enhance the forms used for creating, editing and viewing items in a SharePoint list. In a browser, simply navigate to a SharePoint list, and on the SharePoint Ribbon under List Tools, choose the Customize Form option. This will automatically generate a form which looks very similar to the default out-of-the-box SharePoint list form.

You can then customize and enhance this form by modifying the layout, creating additional views or pages, and adding rules to validate your data, show or hide sections of the form or set a fields value (to name just a few of the options).

Example of Customized SharePoint List Form:

Stay tuned for more details on SharePoint List Customization!

We recommend using a form associated with a SharePoint list when possible. This provides the most straightforward design and form management experience. However, there are more complex scenarios where using a form associated with a form library is preferred e.g. if your form has a complex schema or if you need to add code to your form.

Create SharePoint Applications
With InfoPath 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, and SharePoint Designer 2010, you can easily create powerful team, departmental or enterprise applications on top of SharePoint Server.

Form-based applications: InfoPath forms can be integrated with components such as workflow, reporting, and custom Web pages to create rich form-based applications.
Document Workflows: InfoPath can be used to design custom workflow initiation and task forms that drive document management processes.
Business Connectivity Services: Integrating with BCS, it is straightforward to design InfoPath forms that create, read, update, and delete business data from a back-end system.

Stay tuned for more details on creating SharePoint applications!

Create Mashups using the InfoPath Form Web Part
Now, without writing a single line of code, you can host your InfoPath browser forms in Web pages by simply adding the InfoPath Form Web Part to a Web Part page. You can also connect it to other Web Parts on the page to send or receive data.

Stay tuned for more details on the InfoPath Form Web Part!

Build Forms with Code
Using Visual Studio Tools for Applications, you can add managed code to your forms.

Stay tuned for more details on programming with InfoPath!

InfoPath Editor
The InfoPath 2010 Editor Fluent user interface provides a much improved, simpler user experience for filling out forms.

Form opened in InfoPath 2010 Editor:

SharePoint Workspace
InfoPath 2010 is the forms technology used by SharePoint Workspace 2010 for creating and filling out forms.

InfoPath Forms Services Administration and Management
We have invested in many improvements to make it easier to manage your InfoPath Forms Services as a component of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

We hope you enjoy using InfoPath 2010 and look forward to getting your feedback!

The InfoPath Team

Install the Office 2010 Technical Preview and win an Xbox 360 Elite!

infopath — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:22:00 GMT

We on the InfoPath team are delighted to announce the release of Microsoft InfoPath 2010 (Technical Preview). We’re really excited to share all of our great new features with you!

(Click the thumbnails for higher-resolution images.)

Highlights

Use InfoPath to customize SharePoint list forms
Design forms more quickly and easily with page and section layouts, themes, and Fluent user interface.
Add smarts to your forms with pre-built rules
Publish your forms with one-click

Where do I sign up?
The Office 2010 Technical Preview is a limited-availability release. To sign up to be considered for the Office 2010 Technical Preview program:

Log on to Microsoft Connect with your Windows Live ID, using the following link:

http://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=3343&SiteID=160&InvitationID=Beta-PRJM-HVCM

Complete the registration form for Microsoft Connect
Read and complete the Technical Beta Nomination Form
When the forms asks “Which Microsoft Office Application are you most interested in testing?”, choose InfoPath.

How do I win the Xbox?

Build a real-world end to end application using InfoPath 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
Download the Community Clips Recorder from http://communityclips.officelabs.com/
Record a walkthrough of your solution, showing us how you used InfoPath forms and other Office technologies (5 minutes maximum)
Submit the finished video to us

Contest is limited to eligible members of the InfoPath 2010 Technical Preview program referenced above, and additional limitations may apply. All submissions will be reviewed by the InfoPath team, and prizes will be awarded in several categories, including best overall solution, best video, and best bug. Contest details will be posted on the technical preview site at http://connect.microsoft.com.

We will post more details on our new features in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

New book on SharePoint content types

infopath — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:08:00 GMT

Have you ever wanted to do more with content types in SharePoint, but weren't quite sure how? There's a new book by David Gerhardt and Kevin Martin which goes deep on the subject, including a chapter on creating Document Information Panels using InfoPath.

Check it out!

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Content-Type-Solutions-SharePoint/dp/1584506695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221580433&sr=8-1

Estimate performance and capacity requirements for InfoPath Forms Services environments

infopath — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:22:00 GMT

A new document went live today on Technet around capacity planning for IPFS. Have a look and let us know what you think:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc879113.aspx

Do you have what it takes to define the future of InfoPath?

infopath — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:43:00 GMT

Program Manager Wanted
The InfoPath clan is looking for a new member who’s skilled in the dark arts of user experience design. We are looking for someone who can help vanquish the evil of complex interfaces that tax a helpless populace. We are searching far and wide for a PM who can wield UI heavy feature areas and who can fiercely impart their passion for user experience excellence upon our kin. For those who dare to cross us, know that we are a young and boisterous clan, we move quickly to keep our territory growing and our ranks fun.

The great and triumphant history of the InfoPath clan
Once upon a time those of us seeking the path to information settled upon the land of electronic forms. It was the year MMIII, a time immediately following the failed invasion of the great bubble. Ours was a chaotic and grim landscape dominated by old and decrepit offerings. In response, our people focused on creating a new generation of e-form, one that was fully ‘e’ from its inception, one without a history tied to the ancient convoluted ways of papyrus. Our people created an e-form that fully embraced the interoperability of the ‘e’ world, being compliant with the scriptures of XML and sending/receiving information using the silky services that permeate the great Web of truth. We called ourselves “InfoPath”, forever symbolizing our mission as the righteous seeking the path to information. Today our craftsmen are forging the next incarnation of e-forms. Working under the protection of the great rulers of the Office Kingdom, we fashion the Microsoft Office InfoPath product which provides both an e-form designer and an e-form filler. Moreover, our clan provides components that are used throughout the isle of Office, finding their way into offerings including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Groove, and SharePoint Designer. Those who would evade the clients of the Office Kingdom, utilize our Web-based technology to fill out InfoPath forms on Web sites hosted within the famed and cavernous Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. With the upcoming renaissance number XIV of the Office Kingdom a great many changes have been set afoot to satisfy humans and giants alike.

The Oracles
Our oracles tell us that in future times our craftsman will continue lowering the bar to entry for e-form design. We will move away from InfoPath’s early days as a tool wieldable only by developers and the strongest of Office users. We will target a broad base of Office citizenry including those who like the creature comforts available in the Babbage-like sheets of Excel and the Morton-like sites of SharePoint. We will integrate more tightly with those in the Office Kingdom, mixing ourselves completely into the bricks that bond to form the citadels of Office client and Office server. We will seek out new life and new civilizations… we will find the mythical creature known only as ‘Silverlight’. Its glow is rumored to be able to improve the visual look and feel of forms. It is said to be able to make them fly… or at least float.

Dost thou have what it takes?
-- I am skilled in user experience design and have proven experience working in the design field. Please bring or send us a portfolio of your work.
-- I like enterprise software, it’s not all about games and music for me…
-- I have passion to spare, I was born to drive the value of a great user experience across a team.
-- I like working in a team environment, my peers describe me as a “people person”.
-- I have an educational background that would lead me to succeed at Microsoft in the Program Management role such as a BS or MS degree in Computer Science or a related field, or a minimum of 3 years industry experience.

(Note: Despite the flavor of this job posting, no experience in Renaissance Fairs, Dungeons and Dragons, or Old British Reenactments is expected or required. You don’t even need to have enjoyed Harry Potter. Just knock our socks off and you're in!)

http://members.microsoft.com/careers/search/results.aspx?FromCP=Y&JobCategoryCodeID=&JobLocationCodeID=&JobProductCodeID=10212&JobTitleCodeID=&Divisions=&TargetLevels=&Keywords=&JobCode=&ManagerAlias=&Interval=10

Are you ready to join the InfoPath dev or test team?

infopath — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:30:00 GMT

Are you ready to take the next step, and make the move from writing tools that use InfoPath, to writing InfoPath itself? We currently have open positions in Development, and Test.

To search for positions on the InfoPath team, have a look at these positions on the Microsoft careers site: http://members.microsoft.com/careers/search/results.aspx?FromCP=Y&JobCategoryCodeID=&JobLocationCodeID=&JobProductCodeID=10212&JobTitleCodeID=&Divisions=&TargetLevels=&Keywords=&JobCode=&ManagerAlias=&Interval=10

Software Development Engineer

InfoPath is an integral part of Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (one of the fastest growing businesses at Microsoft). We are a team that is tasked with delivering some incredibly powerful scenarios that will greatly enhance the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server brand. Do you want to be part of a team that will deliver to our customers some incredibly rich forms and views using the latest AJAX/web-service technology? If the answer to these questions is yes and you have the qualifications noted below, we want to talk to you.

Qualifications:

You must have a proven track record of shipping software through at least one product cycle while dealing with challenges such as cross-team dependencies and a constantly evolving ecosystem. You must also be able to extend your impact by working with other team members to instill strong design principles.

You must also have solid fundamental computer science skills and have a passion for cutting-edge software development. Proficiency in C++, C# and JavaScript are required. Experience with AJAX, Dynamic HTML, and web services are big pluses. A Good understanding of basic algorithms and data structures, effective communication and cross-group skills are essential. A BS/MS in Computer Science or Engineering, or equivalent, and 1 to 5 years of software development experience are required.

Software Development Engineer in Test

Are you passionate about XML and related technologies? Do you want to help millions of users migrate from paper forms to electronic forms?
Started in Office 2003, InfoPath provided the ability to easily design and fill out electronic forms. InfoPath enables information workers to hook up their forms to various XML data providers like databases, SharePoint Team Services, and web services. In our latest version, we expanded our product to integrate with other Office 2007 applications, such as Word, Excel, and Outlook. This is just the start for InfoPath and you can be part of the force to change how people fill out forms in the future!
In the next release of InfoPath, we are committed to improve the user experience. We will add many new feature sets and move to a new rendering framework. We’re looking for a strong SDET who is passionate about shipping highest quality product and has shipping experience in at least 1 complete product cycle. Ideal candidate would be technical, self-motivated, and customer focused. You can work directly with developers and program managers under minimal supervision. You have excellent communication skills and able to work with test counterparts across Office. The job involves owning and testing features end-to-end, providing feedbacks to product design, creating test design spec and test cases, writing automation, analyzing and troubleshooting manual and automated test cases.
The position requires a Bachelors degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience. Familiarity with XML, .NET technologies, C#, C/C++, VBscript/Jscript is a plus.