InfoPath with SharePoint 2013 How-To

Steve Mann was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he still resides today. He is an enterprise applications engineer for Morgan Lewis and has nearly 20 years of professional experience. Steve graduated from Drexel University in 1993. Steve has authored and coauthored several books related to the subject of SharePoint Server, PowerShell, managed metadata, and business intelligence. You can find Steve’s blog at http://www.SteveTheManMann.com.

Introduction 1

Overview of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 1

How to Benefit from This Book . . . . . . . . 1

What Is New in This Book? . . . . . . .. . .. . . 2

How to Continue Expanding Your Knowledge . . .  . . . 2

 

Part I: Designing Forms for SharePoint

 

1 Use InfoPath Designer 2013 3

Why Use an InfoPath Form? . . .  . .. . . . 3

What Does InfoPath Do for My Lists? . . . . .. . . 4

Why Use InfoPath Forms in Workflows? . . . . . . . . 4

How Does InfoPath Integrate with My Data? . . .  . . . . 4

InfoPath Versus Web Controls and Web Parts . . . . . .. . 5

What Is the InfoPath Web Part? . . . . . . . . . . .. . 5

Getting Started . . .  . . . . . 5

 

2 Create a SharePoint Form with InfoPath Designer 7

Design a SharePoint Form Using the Blank Form Template . . . . . . . . 9

Add Controls. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Preview Your Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Name Your Data Fields . . . . .. . . . . . 12

Add Submit Options . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 13

Publish Your Form . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 15

Use Your Form in SharePoint . . .  . . . . . . . 17

Create a Form Library from InfoPath . . . . . .  . . . . 18

Design a SharePoint Form Using the SharePoint Form Library Template. . . . .. 20

 

3 Use SharePoint Form Controls 21

What Are Input Controls?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

What Are Object Controls? . . . .  . . . . . . . .. 23

What Are Container Controls? . . . . . .. . . 24

Drag Controls on Your Form . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Allow Users to Enter Text . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . 25

    Make a Text Box Read-Only . . . . . . . . . 25

    Make a Text Box Multiline . . . . . . .. . . . . 26

Allow Users to Select a Single Selection from a List of Items . . 27

Allow Users to Select Multiple Items from a List of Items . . . 29

Allow Users to Select an Optional Single Choice . .  . . 30

Allow Users to Select from Various Options . . . . . . . 31

Allow Users to Enter a Date/Time . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . 32

Allow Users to Select a Person . . . . . .  . . . . . . 34

Allow Users to Select from a SharePoint External Content Type . . . . . . 35

Allow Users to Initiate an Action . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . 35

Show Optional Controls on Your Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Allow Users to Enter Multiple Instances of the Same Fields . . . .  . 37

Allow Users to Choose Which Set of Fields to Use . . .  . . . . 38

Make a Control/Field Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

 

4 Create SharePoint Form Rules 41

Hide or Show Controls Based on a Selected Option . . . . . . . . 42

Format an Entry Based on a Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Implement a Validation Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Add an Action Rule to a Button . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 49

Use Rules for Form Submission . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 50

Use Rules for Form Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Validate Data Entry Using Patterns . . . .  . . . . . . . . . 54

 

5 SharePoint Form Functions 57

Use the SharePoint URL Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Calculate a Future Date . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Get the Current SharePoint User . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Remove Leading and Trailing Spaces from a Field Value . . . . . 63

Remove All Spaces from an Entry . .. . . . . . . . 63

Default a Blank Amount to Zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Calculate the Sum of All Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Determine a Count of the Items Entered . . . . .. . . . . 67

Obtain a Portion of an Entered String . . . . .  . . . . . 68

Obtain the Username from SharePoint Online (Office 365) . . . . . 69

Add Years to a Date Preserving the Month and Day .  . . . . 70

 

6 Create SharePoint Form Page Designs and Views 71

Change the Current View Name . . . . . . . . . 72

Create a New View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Change the Default View . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Make a View Read-Only . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Prevent a User from Selecting a View . .  . . . . . . 75

Use a View for Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Use a Different Layout for Your Form . . . . . . . . 77

Use a Theme for Your Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Add Headers/Footers to Your Form . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Insert a Table Layout into Your Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Modify a Table Layout in Your Form . . . .  . . . . . . . . . 80

 

7 SharePoint List Forms 81

Use a Form to Create a SharePoint List . . . .  . . . . . . . 82

Modify the Form of an Existing SharePoint List . . .  . . . . . . . 86

Set Your List Form Template Back to the Default Form . . . . . 87

 

8 Submit and Publish to SharePoint 89

Enable Your Form for Submission .  . . . . . . . . 90

Configure Email Submission . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Publish Your Form to Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Configure SharePoint Library Submission . . . .. . . . . . . . . 96

Publish Your Form to a SharePoint Library . . .. . . . . . . 97

Use Multiple Forms in SharePoint Libraries. . . . . . . . . . 101

Configure Web Service Submission . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Configure SharePoint Server Connection Submission . . . .  . . . 107

Modify the Available Menu Buttons During Form Submission . . . . . 110

 

Part II: Business Solutions

 

9 Use Data in SharePoint Forms 113

Use Data From a Database . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 114

Convert an InfoPath Connection to a SharePoint Connection File . . . 119

Use Data From a SharePoint List . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 121

Use Data From a SharePoint Data Connection File . . . . . . 123

Use Data from a (SOAP) Web Service . .  . . . . 124

Populate a Drop-Down List with Data . . . . . . . . . . 126

Populate a Drop-Down List with Data Based on Another Selection (Cascading Drop-Down) . . . . . 129

Display Data from a SharePoint List . . . . . .  . . 133

Display a Repeating Table from a SharePoint List . . . . . . . . . 137

Leverage External Data from a SharePoint External Content Type (Business Data Connectivity Services) . . . . 142

Leverage External Data from a REST Web Service . . .. . . . 144

 

10 Use the InfoPath Form Web Part 151

Add an InfoPath Form Web Part to a SharePoint Web Part Page . .  . . 152

Create a Master/Detail Display Form for SharePoint Lists .  . 154

Expose Form Fields as Web Part Connection Parameters . .  . . 156

Create a Form to Send Data to Web Parts . . . . . . . . . . 158

 

11 Using Forms in SharePoint Workflows 163

Create a SharePoint Workflow for a Form Library . . . . 164

Include a Link to the Form in an Email . . .. . . . . . . . 168

Add a Task to the Workflow . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 170

Perform Workflow Actions Based on Form Values . . .. . . . 172

Perform One Workflow Action or Another (But Not Both) . . . . 175

Get a User from a People/Group Picker Control . . . . . . . . 177

Customize the Task Form . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 180

Add Form Parameters Used When Starting Your Workflow . . . . . . 181

 

12 Enhance the User Experience 183

Display a Read-Only Value . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Compact Sections of Fields/Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Configure Dynamic Sections . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Make Screen Tips Informative for Validation . . . .  . . . . . . . . . 190

Notify the User of Successful Submission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Create a Tabbed Navigation in Your Form . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . 194

Use Pictures as Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .  . . . . 198

 

13 Using Template Parts to Create Reusable Form Components 203

Create a New Template Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Add Common Data Connections . . . . . .  . . . . . . . 205

Add Common Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Add Common Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Save Your Form Template Part . . . . . . . . . .  . 206

Add Your Template Part as a Custom Control . . . . . .. . 206

Use Your Template Part as a Control . . . .. . . . . . . 209

Change the Name of Your Custom Control . . . . .. . . . . . . 210

Change the Icon of Your Custom Control . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

 

Part III: Technical Solutions

 

14 Customize a Document Information Panel Content Type 213

Create the Document Library . . . . . . . . . 214

Add Columns to Your DIP . . . . . . .  . . . 215

Modify the DIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

 

15 Leverage Visual Studio 2012 with InfoPath 221

Access Your Form Within a Visual Studio Solution . . . . . . . 222

Create an InfoPath 2013 Add-In . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Create a Custom Task Pane . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 226

 

16 Dynamically Populate a Repeating Table 229

Set Up the Initial Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Create a Changed Event Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Create a Namespace Variable. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Access the Secondary Data Source . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Loop Through the Secondary Data Source .  . . . . . . . . 235

Populate the Repeating Table . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 236

Clear Previous Entries . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

What Does the Final Solution Look Like? . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 237

Implement a Nested Repeating Table Solution . . . . . . . .  . . . . 239

 

17 Track Changes in a Form 243

Set Up the Form for Tracking Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Add Changed Event Code for Tracking Changes . . . .. . . . . . . 246

Apply Rich Text to the Entry . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Show Only One Version at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Display a Changes Counter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Display the User Who Made the Modification . . . .  . . . . . . . 257

 

18 Autogenerate Forms 259

Create a Class Object of Your Form . . . . . . . . . 260

Create Form Generation Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Upload the Form Object to a Form Library . . . .  . . 265

 

Part IV: Administrative Aspects

 

19 Use Central Administration to Administer InfoPath Forms Services 267

Access the InfoPath Form Services Options . . .. . . . . 268

Browser-Enable Form Templates . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Throttle Data Connection Timeouts . . . . . . . . . 269

Throttle the Data Connection Response Size . . . .. . . . . . 270

Modify Authentication Settings . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Configure Session State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Upload a Form Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

    What Happens When a Form Is Uploaded? . . . .. . . . 275

Manage Form Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

    What Happens When a Form Is Activated to a Site Collection? . . . 277

Enable the Web Service Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Manage Data Connections . . . . . . . . . . . 279

 

20 PowerShell 281

Access SharePoint 2013 Management Shell . . .. . . . . . . 282

Browser-Enable Form Templates . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 283

Throttle Data Connection Timeouts . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . 284

Throttle the Data Connection Response Size . . . . . . . . . 284

Modify Authentication Settings . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Configure Session State . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Enable View State . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Verify and Upload a Form Template . . . .  . . . . . . . 287

Upload Multiple Form Templates at Once . . .  . . . . . . . 288

Activate or Deactivate a Form to a Site Collection . .  . . . . . 288

Remove a Form from InfoPath Form Services . . . . . . . . 289

Quiesce a Form from InfoPath Form Services . . . . . . 289

Enable the Web Service Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

 

21 Managing Form Permissions 293

Create Unique Permissions on a Form Library . . . . . . . . . 294

Grant Users Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Create a Permission Level for Your Form Library . . . . . . . 296

Edit a Group’s Permission Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Create a Submit-Only Permission Level . . . . . . . . 299

 

Part V: Troubleshooting

 

22 General Form Issues 301

Resolve: Issue Accessing Data Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Resolve: SQL Credential Issue . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 303

Resolve: Business Data Connectivity Metadata Store Is Currently Unavailable . . . . 304

Resolve: Picker Issue Obtaining Business Data . . .. . . . . 305

Resolve: Missing Business Data Connectivity Services Client Components . . .. . . . 306

Resolve: SharePoint Designer Task List Creation Error . . .  . 307

Resolve: Missing Programmability Components . . . . . . . . 308

Resolve: Error Loading the Form . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 308

Resolve: Security Exception Using Code-Behind . . .. . . . . . . 309

 

23 Resolve Deployment and Publishing Issues 311

Resolve: No File with URL in This Web . . . .. . . . . . . . 312

Resolve: Form Cannot Be Browser Enabled on Selected Site . . . . . . . . . 312

Resolve: Form Template Has Not Been Published . . . . . . . . . . 314

 

24 Resolve Form Submission Issues 315

Troubleshoot General Submission Issues . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 316

Resolve: SharePoint Location Is Read-Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Resolve: Document Library Already Contains a File with the Same Name . . . . . 317

Resolve: Errors Submitting to a Web Service . . . . . . . . 318

 

Part VI: Appendixes

 

A Auto-Increment Repeating Tables 321

Use the position() Function in a Calculated Value Control . .. . 321

Use the count() Function . . . 321

Use a Counter Field with Form Rules .  . . 322

 

B Upload File Attachments in Forms to a Document Library 323

Form Scenario . . . . . . . . . . 323

Submit Button and Code-Behind Setup . . . . . 323

Event Handler Code . . . . . . . . . 324

Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

 

C Add Picture Files to InfoPath 327

Add a Picture as a Resource File . . . . . . . . 327

Use a Resource File Picture . . . . . . . . . . . 328

 

Index 331