InfoPath Dev

I have about 9 InfoPath 2007 forms (not browser-enable) that are submitted to the same SharePoint Server 2007 Forms Library. Each form has a set of promoted properties, including ones like Client Name and Client ID. The problem is that each property is added, so I end up with 9 Client Name properties and 9 Client ID ones, and of course I want only 1. Does anyone know of a way to do this?

I've considered setting up a Document Information Panel for each form, but I'm hoping there's an easier approach. 

Thanks,
Chris

 

This is a problem when trying to share a document library.

 I think there may be a way to fix this but have not had to do it.

Typically if you have a bunch of similar forms you should just have one super form then you would not have this issue.

With lots of help from Andrew May's WebLog, I figured it out. Here are some links:

http://blogs.msdn.com/andrew_may/archive/2006/07/10/SharePointBeta2InfoPathFormsinContentTypes.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/andrew_may/archive/2006/06/14/SharePointTermsColumnsFieldsProperties.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/andrew_may/archive/2006/06/29/SharePointBeta2XMLDocumentParsers1.aspx  (#1 of 5)

My original form library was a mess, so I ended up deleting it and all the form content types so that I was starting from scratch. Then I did these steps:

1. I realized I needed two form libraries, Case Forms and Admin Forms, each of which would need its own set of common promoted fields.

2. Define all of the common fields as site columns.
    Site Actions | Site Settings | Galleries | Site Columns.

3. Define a "Case Form" site content type with "Form" as its parent.
    Site Actions | Site Settings | Galleries | Site Content Types.

4. Add the site columns you want to the "Case Form" content type.

5. Define a "Admin Form" site content type with "Form" as its parent.

6. Add the site columns you want to the "Admin Form" content type.

7. For each InfoPath form template:
   a. Change the Data Connection to point to the appropriate Form Library.
   b. Remove all promoted fields (Tools | Form Options | Property Promotion).
   c. Save the form template.
   d. Publish the form template as a site content type.
   e. The first time you publish it, it will be a new content type.
      Make sure you select either "Case Form" or "Admin Form" as the
      content type that you want to base the form template on.
   f. After the first time you publish, it will be an update of an existing type,
      which is the previously published form template.
   g. For each form field you want to promote:
      - Select the form field
      - Select the appropriate site column that was created in step #2.
        Do not create a new list column! (That's the mistake I made).

That's it. You can use the common columns to sort and filter the forms however you'd like.

Chris