InfoPath Dev

Good morning,

We have a client who is happily testing our InfoPath with qRules solution on our testing server.  So far so good on her end.  What she doesn't know is that getting it from dev to test requires following a 23-page screen-shot instruction file that addresses the mapping files, the InfoPath form, the workflows, and the lists, content types, and columns involved.  It takes about an hour (there are a LOT of moving parts in this solution).

We have another jump to production coming up soon and I'm dreading it.  Once, twice, not so bad, but we frequently copy pieces of our production sites to a test server to, well, test current projects, and the "frequently" part of that process makes me wilt just thinking of it.  Is there an easy way to deploy this solution to another server? By easy, I would accept anything that takes less than 30 minutes, or that can be automated.  We use ControlPoint, SharePoint 2007 Enterprise, 2003 servers, ...

Thanks again for your help - it's always appreciated.

Nancy

Hi Nancy,

Is it because your form maps to SharePoint lists on the same site? Is that what takes the bulk of the config? If so, I guess you could take the mapping.xml and make it a relative resource based on a relative UDCX  file on the server in the current environment. Then, you could just deploy the XSN to the site and not have to reconfig the mapping, etc.

In general, UDCX files allow you to change the data connection (in the UDCX) without republishing the form. If the site lists and libraries are the same names and relative it should be easier, but may still involve changing the site's name. You could also just go into the manifest.xsf and find-replace the server name and republish. That could be easier than running through the reconfig.

Guess we will need more details though ...