Hello everyone!
I'm a newbie to this forum and basically InfoPath in general. After spending the last few months trying to find my way through Access and InfoPath, I'm kind of throwing my hands up in the air and desperately need help!! So here's what I've been tasked to do:
My boss has requested that a site status form be created with some fields that are autopopulated from an Access DB but the form will be populated by the user on computers with no network or internet connections. The only time they will have connectivity is in a hotel to email submit the completed forms. So, I have created a form that queries an Access DB to populate some fields with the others being entered by the offline user(s). The Access DB is currently the primary data connection. The current workflow is to publish this template along with a copy of the Access DB on each users disconnected computer. Once completed, the user emails the form back to me for processing. My intention is to collect the forms in email and immediately push them to a Sharepoint site (my PC does have network/internet connectivity). Once on the SP, the form will go through an editing/QA/QC approval workflow. Here's the kicker: once the form is approved by the supervisor, I would like to submit that form back to the master version of the Access DB that is on my networked computer.
The disconnected/offline use is becoming a major headache for me but unfortunately I work in a place where network security is stringent. I have loaded the form templates and Access DB copies to each off-network computer and the forms work once I change the data connection location (the user must be able to query offline, not prior to taking the form offline). However, how can I get the information back as readable and submittable to the master networked copy of the Access DB since the data connection and template have been changed?
Can this be solved by not copying the Access DB and loading it onto each offline computer but by including the Primary data connection as a resource file within the template? (I've tried this but can't get to work)
Any help or suggestions is more than welcomed here!! I believe my boss is starting to become agitated with this process!