InfoPath Dev

My company wants me to setup vacation request forms in InfoPath. I have created a request form that logs the request to an access database, however I cannot figure out for the life of me how to create a form to view the request and allow the managers the authorize the request.

My background is all access and sql so the data part I am fine with, I am just lost on InfoPath.

Hi, and welcome to the InfoPath Dev forums.

It sounds like you are not saving your "form" anywhere but instead using InfoPath to submit the data to Access, is that right?  Typically I would think of using an actual form (XML saved somwhere, SharePoint, network folder etc) and when the user submits the form you could have the form e-mailed to their manager.  The Manager then opens the form and authorizes the reuquest.  All along the way your Access (or SQL) DB is updated with the data you need to report on.

I think it would help to understand a little bit more about your design to help make some suggestions.

Ted

That sounds like a great solution. I have no idea how to do that but it is definately something I can look into.

 Right now I have a form that submits its data directly to the SQL backend and then closes itself. So from what you are saying if I submit and email the form to the next person for approval then when the second person opens the email they will have access to complete the filled in information. I'll post back today when I get that working.

Interesting. I have InfoPath 2003, by the way.

I have found that I can email the form but it uses Outlook to process the email. We have kiosk computers for many of our users which would not have and Outlook account setup for the generic users so I don't think email will work. I suppose I have already created the request form, to finish this process in InfoPath without Access I could create a form for the completion of the request, allowing the unfullfilled requests to be looked up and then filled in accordingly. Does that make sense?

There are other options other than email notifications.  InfoPath 2007 is where the big email integration changes occured anyway. 

Do you have a SharePoint site?  Or a website where the users can get to the forms?  You could then have a dashboard that shows users just their forms when they login to the website. 

We have a product that is fantastic for InfoPath & SQL integration and does not require SharePoint - it's called DBXL: http://www.qdabra.com/en/products/DBXL.aspx

This would actually save you a ton of time on the database interaction part and since the form XML is saved in the DB you can setup views on a web page to access the forms.

Ted