Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 Kick Start

Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 Kick Start provides a friendly, practical introduction to the knowledge and skills you need to get started using Microsoft's new XML-based forms tool, InfoPath 2003. InfoPath 2003 is a powerful, flexible Office forms tool you can use to improve the completeness and accuracy of business data collection. Under the hood, InfoPath automatically uses XML technologies to submit and query data that users can manipulate without having technical knowledge of XML. It can query and submit data to data sources as diverse as XML files, Microsoft Access and SQL Server databases, and XML Web services. You learn how to lay out InfoPath views and how to use and customize InfoPath's form controls to produce the appearance and functionality you want in your InfoPath forms. You also discover how to capitalize on InfoPath's validation functionality, using W3C XML Schema, user-defined validation rules, and script code to maximize data correctness and completeness. The book describes the files that make up an InfoPath form template, in particular how the InfoPath manifest (the .xsf file) provides custom functionality not available via the InfoPath 2003 user interface. Using the InfoPath object model and events, you can apply your scripting skills to provide advanced functionality in your InfoPath forms. Book jacket.

Andrew Watt, a Microsoft MVP for InfoPath 2003, has almost 20 years of experience

Introduction	p. 1
Using the InfoPath Visual Interface	p. 5
Getting Started with InfoPath	p. 7
Defining InfoPath	p. 7
Installing InfoPath	p. 9
Connecting to an Access Database	p. 10
Creating a Simple Scripted InfoPath Form	p. 22
In Brief	p. 26
InfoPath Is Different	p. 27
Understanding How InfoPath Is Different	p. 27
What InfoPath Is Not	p. 29
Programming Languages	p. 30
Database and XML Web Service Front-End Tool	p. 31
Automatic Data Validation	p. 32
Dynamic Forms	p. 32
Filling In Forms Offline	p. 33
Conditional Formatting	p. 34
InfoPath Security	p. 35
Publishing InfoPath Form Templates	p. 35
Digitally Signing InfoPath Forms	p. 36
In Brief	p. 36
The InfoPath Workspace and Workflow	p. 37
Form-Filling Mode--The User's View	p. 37
Filling In Forms	p. 40
Design Mode--Your Toolset	p. 41
The Form Area	p. 42
The Task Pane	p. 45
Form Views	p. 48
Setting InfoPath Options	p. 51
In Brief	p. 54
InfoPath Form Controls	p. 55
What Is a Form Control?	p. 55
The Text Box Control	p. 57
The Rich Text Box Control	p. 60
The Drop-Down List Box Control	p. 62
The List Box Control	p. 68
The Date Picker Control	p. 68
The Check Box Control	p. 70
The Option Button Control	p. 71
The Section Control	p. 71
The Optional Section Control	p. 73
The Repeating Section Control	p. 73
The Repeating Table Control	p. 74
List Form Controls	p. 77
The Button Control	p. 78
The Hyperlink Control	p. 79
The Picture Control	p. 79
The Expression Box Control	p. 80
The Ink Picture Control	p. 80
In Brief	p. 80
Expression Boxes	p. 83
What an Expression Box Is	p. 83
Using XPath in Expression Boxes	p. 85
In Brief	p. 99
Designing Visual Aspects of InfoPath Forms	p. 101
Creating a View Layout	p. 101
Copying a View Layout	p. 111
Applying a Color Scheme	p. 111
Styling Form Controls	p. 114
Conditional Formatting	p. 117
In Brief	p. 120
Connecting to a Database	p. 123
Connecting to Microsoft Access	p. 123
Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server	p. 135
In Brief	p. 143
Connecting to a Web Service	p. 145
Preparations for Deploying an XML Web Service	p. 145
Configuring and Testing the InfoPath SDK Samples	p. 151
Limitations of InfoPath XML Web Service Support	p. 157
Designing a Template to Connect to a Web Service	p. 158
In Brief	p. 163
Saving, Publishing, and Submitting InfoPath Forms	p. 165
Saving Form Templates and Forms	p. 165
Publishing an InfoPath Form Template	p. 169
Sharing InfoPath Forms	p. 172
Submitting an InfoPath Form	p. 174
In Brief	p. 178
Validating Form Data	p. 179
InfoPath's Three Validation Tools	p. 179
Using W3C XML Schema	p. 183
Script-Based Validation	p. 191
Rules-Based Validation	p. 194
In Brief	p. 202
Updating and Modifying InfoPath Forms	p. 203
Versions of InfoPath Form Templates	p. 203
Modifying the Data Source	p. 206
An Alternative Approach	p. 211
In Brief	p. 211
Security and InfoPath Forms	p. 213
Overview of Security in InfoPath	p. 213
InfoPath Security and Internet Explorer	p. 218
Sandboxed InfoPath Form Templates	p. 219
Object Model Security Levels	p. 221
Fully Trusted InfoPath Forms	p. 221
Digitally Signing an InfoPath Form	p. 228
The Need for a Security Policy	p. 229
In Brief	p. 229
Using InfoPath with Windows SharePoint Services	p. 231
Windows SharePoint Services Overview	p. 231
Creating a Form Template and Form Library	p. 232
In Brief	p. 248
Planning InfoPath Solutions	p. 249
Considering Whether InfoPath Is the Appropriate Solution	p. 249
Defining the Problem	p. 252
Defining the Necessary Data	p. 254
Planning Training and User Documentation	p. 255
In Brief	p. 256
Under the Hood	p. 257
Understanding the .xsn File	p. 259
The Content and Purpose of the .xsn File	p. 259
The .xml Template File	p. 261
The .xsf Manifest File	p. 262
The .xsl View Files	p. 265
The .xsd Schema Files	p. 272
The Script Files	p. 273
Executable Files	p. 273
Miscellaneous Files	p. 274
In Brief	p. 275
The Manifest File	p. 277
Overview of the Manifest File	p. 277
The [left angle bracket]xsf:xDocumentClass[right angle bracket] Element	p. 279
The [left angle bracket]xsf:package[right angle bracket] Element	p. 285
View-Controlling Elements	p. 286
The [left angle bracket]xsf:errorCondition[right angle bracket] Element	p. 288
The [left angle bracket]xsf:taskpane[right angle bracket] Element	p. 289
Toolbar and Menu-Related Elements	p. 290
The [left angle bracket]xsf:button[right angle bracket] Element	p. 290
In Brief	p. 291
Scripting in InfoPath	p. 293
The Scripting Environment	p. 293
JScript	p. 306
VBScript	p. 307
MSXML 5.0	p. 307
The XML DOM in InfoPath	p. 308
In Brief	p. 309
The InfoPath Object Model	p. 311
Introducing the InfoPath Object Model	p. 311
The Application Object	p. 312
The ADOAdapter Object	p. 313
The DataDOM Object	p. 314
The DataDOMEvent Object	p. 314
The DataObject Object	p. 316
The DocActionEvent Object	p. 319
The DocEvent Object	p. 320
The DocReturn Object	p. 321
The Error Object	p. 321
The ExternalApplication Object	p. 322
The HTML TaskPane Object	p. 323
The HTML TaskPaneExternal Object	p. 324
The MailEnvelope Object	p. 324
The Solution Object	p. 325
The TaskPane Object	p. 326
The UI Object	p. 327
The VersionUpgradeEvent Object	p. 328
The View Object	p. 329
The ViewInfo Object	p. 330
The WebServiceAdapter Object	p. 331
The Window Object	p. 331
The XDocument Object	p. 332
The XMLFileAdapter Object	p. 335
InfoPath Collections	p. 335
In Brief	p. 338
Events in InfoPath	p. 341
Overview of InfoPath Events	p. 341
Form Events	p. 342
Validation Events	p. 346
In Brief	p. 349
Glossary	p. 351
Index	p. 356
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 Kick Start

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials