InfoPath Dev

I'm still looking for the best solution for my:I created an InfoPath Form, For while, the users open instance of the form from a portal on the web. My form is full trust form and because of this I need to install the form (template) in each machine (user) in the organization. And… because of this I need to install Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 in each machine (because the template's code is written in c#). This is not "clean" way to do this. What can I do?
I know that I can Sign to form with certificate. I dont want to buy certificate for this so I want to use the makecert.exe command. How does it works? Where can I find this command? Can I create the certificate on my local machin or should I do it on the server?
What should I do after I sign the form. Hoe the user will open it? Should i publish it after the sign? If yes, so to where publish it?
Please help me. It's very Urgent!!!

Its compulsory to have "Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1" installed on machines that are used to open InfoPath forms that have C# or VB.NET code in it.

Even if you open a form from a published location, you should have "Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1", because code has to get executed at the client machine itself.

Tip: Install .Net Framework before installing Microsoft Office.

Agni
InfoPathDev India

And what about avoid install the form in each client machin??
How to do it?

Hi again Liorlankri,

You have discovered a vexing issue. We have had the same issue before for a previous project. Bottom line: full trust is not worth doing because of the deployment hassle around .NET framework, certificates, etc. In addition, installing a form using an MSI (that you have created with the regform tools) removes the ability to have it interact with a website, since it removes the URL from the solution and makes it purely URN-based.

You can make Full Trust work .... here's how:

For the certificate, you'll want to either a) install Certificate Authority service on your Intranet server, or b) buy a third-party digi-cert (for example, from Verisign). The third party ones are going to cost a lot (~$500). The Cert Authority requires that your users go through a multi-step import process.

If you are going to sign the form, then use the Send as E-mail option to send the signed xsn to your users. If you use regform to create an MSI, there's a /FT option to make it full trust by default. That's probably a better solution. You will need to save the template or publish it locally in order to run the command-line regform tool on it. After you create the MSI you will have to send this in e-mail (probably also add an "_" (underbar) to the msi extension so that Outlook doesn't block it.

This is complicated. There is no silver bullet here, but you can make it work. We have.

Good luck,

Patrick Halstead [InfoPath MVP]
InfoPathDev

Hi Patric!
I'm trying to do order in your answer
I'm stiil not understand What to do in order avoid inatall .NET Framework in each station.
You told about 2 ways for full trust form
1) Sign the form by cerificate
2) Create MSI file by the RegForm command.
Wich one is better to me?

what you did in your project? Publish or install?
pleas

Hi Liorlankri!
Sorry, but I didn't really respond to the .NET Framework issue. If you use .NET Framework, then they have to install it at each station. How many stations do you have? How much code do you have? You could rewrite it in script (that still requires IE6, though). Do they have IE6? The other option would be to use the downlevel viewer that we have developed (DViewer) to view and enter the data. This downlevel viewer is pretty limited and suppports postback, but if you have custom logic in your form it may not work. Another option is to buy a more full-fledged offering like the InfoView software by UniqueWorld.

To grant your form full trust, you have 2 options. It depends on your environment. If you need to support an extranet-intranet submit scenario using an internal web-site (for example SharePoint form library) then you will have to sign the form. If that is not a requirement and you are handling form submit through e-mail, you can use the MSI. The MSI is easier to manage and deploy and has less cost of ownership, but if you already use digital certificates internally (and have set up the infrastructure and educated your staff), then it may not be that big of a difference. The MSI install itself is not cost free.

We have done both methods on our projects.
Good luck!

Patrick Halstead [InfoPath MVP]
InfoPathDev

My code of the form (wich in c#) contain a Web reference to a Web Service. I called it from the code by this way:

MyService.Service FormWS=new MyService.Service();
FormWS.MyMethod();

Do I need certificate or MSI???

You can use either method. I talked about pros and cons above.

Patrick Halstead [InfoPath MVP]
InfoPathDev