InfoPath Dev

I have an infopath form with 2 views.  When the first form is filled out and signed there is a rule the sets the view to the second form.  During the workflow the first form is signed, then passes to the new person, they click to open the form and it opens in infopath client rather than web browser.  Is there anyway to force the web browser form to open instead?

Ram,

Can you tell me how they are opening the form? Is it through a workflow task email or from the library? If it is through the task email from SharePoint Designer, you will have to append the browser form URL to the Encoded Absolute URL to open the document.

Can you please advise how to edit the workflow task to include the encoded absolute url?  i'm having this problem when they are opening the form thru the workflow task from sharepoint designer.

 Thanks!

they are opening it from the workflow task. and how do you append the browser form URL like you suggested?

As you can see below, here is a link to a form in a browser:

http://myserver/mysubsite/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?XsnLocation=http://myserver/mysubsite/Conference%20Room%20Booking/Forms/template.xsn&SaveLocation=http%3A%2F%2Fdbxl%2Dtest3%2FConferenceRoomInformation%2FConference%20Room%20Booking&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fdbxl%2Dtest3%2FConferenceRoomInformation%2FConference%2520Room%2520Booking%2FForms%2FAllItems%2Easpx&DefaultItemOpen=1

The first part of the link is the location of the Form Server in the current site. The next section is the location of the XML form. Finally, the section at the very end “DefaultItemOpen=1” tells the form to open in a browser.

1.       To construct this in a workflow email, you will type  <a href=” http://myserver/mysubsite/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?xmlLocation=

2.       Click Add lookup to body

3.       Choose Server Relative URL and then click OK

4.       Type &DefaultItemOpen=1”></a>

It should look something like this when you are done:

<a href=”http://myserver/mysubsite/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?xmlLocation=[%MyFormIsHere:ServerRelativeURL%]&DefaultItemOpen=1”></a>

 

 

Janice,

This is great and I will certainly try this.  However, when I use the Assign a to item it creates the task and puts the xml file link into the email automatically.  Is there any way to edit that to open in the browser?

You will need to create that URL through a dynamic string builder and add it as part of the task whether it be in the body or some other piece metadata if you prefer to use the actual built-in tasks.  Or, you can just do your own workflow with SharePoint Designer that dynamically creates the URL and puts it into your email notification that gets sent to the taskee.  This is how I do it instead of relying on OOTB tasks.

Try this article, I found it quite helpful.

You can do just about anything with code, so this is one way to do it if your workflow is built in Visual Studio, but I got the impression the OP was just using built-in workflow tasks.

Hi all,  

I  have a similar issue. I have e IP2003 template uploaded in SharePoint 2007  in a document library. I have a number of forms which are linked to this library. So my problem rised when opening the forms. SOMETIMES, they are opened as [read-only] when I open them directly from the library. It even ask me if I want to open it or save it. It should open the form not as read only - as I understand it happens that the form is opened as web-enabled form. I have explicitly selected in SharePoint "open in user's application". Furthermore we have email notficitation, which has a link to the form in its body. Using this link a user can open the form and it always works properly - the form is opened in the application and when someone other has opened it, it prompts a window informing that it can be opened as read only, which is normal. The other thing which bothers me is that when this "SOMETIMES" happens, the form is still active, I can alter it, save it, submit it... it just doesnt work as expected - rad only!!!!! if [read only] I should not be able to do this. I just cannot find any logic here. If someone has any Idea or has experienced such behaviour, can he/she please share his solution or suggestion to the problem

Regards,

Svetoslav

This works, except everytime I use it the first two words generated by the [Server Relative URL] workflow lookup are squished together into one word. Subsequent words in the string that have spaces between them get "%20"s between them. This only happens when I wrap the link in an <a> tag.

Here are the details:

What I made in SharePoint Designer's Workflow Designer using Server Relative URL:
http://portal/forms/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?XmlLocation=[%Information Technology Help Request:Server Relative URL%]&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fportal%2Fforms%2Fdefault%2Easpx&DefaultItemOpen=1
What appears in the e-mail (Note the bold was added here for your reference, see the "%20" between the words):
http://portal/forms/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?XmlLocation=/forms/Information%20Technology%20Help%20Request/Boone_%20Bryan-2010-07-27T08_38_29.xml&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fportal%2Fforms%2Fdefault%2Easpx&DefaultItemOpen=1

This worked every time so I decided to wrap the URL string in an <a> so the link as viewed in Outlook didn't break on the spaces and would then open with a click. All I did is add the necessary HTML and this is when I ran into a problem.

For example I can create something like this in SharePoint Designer's Workflow Designer:
<a href="http://portal/forms/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?XmlLocation=[%Information Technology Help Request:Server Relative URL%]&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fportal%2Fforms%2Fdefault%2Easpx&DefaultItemOpen=1">Using Server Relative URL</a>

When this opens in a browser however the URL opens like this (Note the bold was added here for your reference, see the lack of a "%20" between the words and that they have collapsed together):
http://portal/forms/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?XmlLocation=/forms/InformationTechnology%20Help%20Request/Boone_%20Bryan-2010-07-27T08_38_29.xml&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fportal%2Fforms%2Fdefault%2Easpx&DefaultItemOpen=1

Compare that with the example without the <a> tag and you will notice the space between "Information" and "Technology" is missing, while the other spaces, such as the ones between "Technology" and "Help" have been replaced by "%20" and are alright. I bolded those sections of each example to help identify them. This version of the URL goes nowhere and I of course get a "The form has been closed." error.

It is always rendered correctly without the <a> tag and always incorrectly when using the <a>. I'm only using the <a> tags because of the spaces in the first place as Outlook cuts off the URL when it first encounters the space in the URL string.

If anyone has any insite into this issue I would greatly appreciate your input. I'm fairly new to Workflows, so I could be making a simple mistake, but I've checked this over on such articles as this one: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-designer-help/send-e-mail-in-a-workflow-HA010239042.aspx

Cheers,

Bryan

This is also posted on http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointworkflow/thread/63fa1722-6165-4294-be14-71ab6267aa20

I tried this but the server relative url is not attached in my link when i get the mail? how else can i perform the approval task in a browser so that when they need to go through the form it will open in the browser and not in infopath?????

I tried this but the server relative url is not attached in my link when i get the mail? how else can i perform the approval task in a browser so that when they need to go through the form it will open in the browser and not in infopath?????