InfoPath Dev

Hey everyone.

 As we're working on a new solution at work, I've wanted to ask a question regarding what you think is in store for InfoPath.

Looking at Microsoft's sites, It seems that even for InfoPath 2007, There is a lack of documentation and training material.

Going to the InfoPath portal, I can see most materials only apply to 2003, especially tutorials.

Also knowing the Content Control ablities of Word 2007, I am left asking - Is InfoPath being slowly scrapped and merged into Word?

I'd thank every bit of information on this, As we're making a crucial decision whether or not to start getting into InfoPath development for a new project.

Hi Ran Sagy and welcome to InfoPathDev!

Microsoft is actively working on the next version of InfoPath. They are making a big investment in InfoPath. There is no plan to go to Word. Word has two big limitations - deployment of XML based forms to client computers is more costly because it requires installing packages, and it's too easy to break the XML schema in Word documents that are created to be forms. There are many other limitations. Bottom line: Word is a great document editor but not a forms editor. That's what InfoPath is for.

While I cannot talk about what I have seen at Microsoft, I encourage you to Google for Office 14 and you will see that there are screenshots out there of the new InfoPath. Suffice it to say that the Microsoft InfoPath team has been working on some great new features and I am looking forward to using them when they are released as part of the next version of Office.

Microsoft internally has adopted InfoPath in a big way. It is used in hundreds of business processes.

Hope this helps!