InfoPath Dev

Hello

I am new to infopath. I intend to develop a new infopath form which will have the following salient features. If anyone can please guide me on it. (I dont know much of coding so I will not be able to do much of code customizations, but I can surely use SPD for custom workflows.)

1. The end user opens an infopath form in browser. I plan to make one view over here that will contain editable fields on this page. He fills in the data and submits. This triggers a mail to the immediate boss. One thing over here is that there should be a submit button on the form instead of the regular Save/Close link buttons on the form.

2. The form after submission in step 1 goes to the end user's immediate boss for approval. So I need to create one more view that will contain the data entered by the end user in read-only mode. Plus the view will contain additional editable fields to be modified by the immediate boss. Here the boss accepts or rejects the request and submits again the form (Submit button) to his big daddy in the organization for approval.

3. There are different departments in the organization for implementation of every request submitted by the end user. Once the big daddy evaluates the request and finds that it is to be entertained then he will accept the request. This in turn will trigger mails to different responsible people based on the values submitted in the form. This will require a different conditional views of the form that will contain all the data entered by the user in readonly mode pertaining to that particular department.

All this needs to be done in the framework of browser enabled infopath forms. 

The big Gods of infopath please guide me how to proceed. Also comment if this is possible without coding or not.

Hi and welecome to the InfoPath Dev forums.

Your scenario seems straightforward and should totally be doable in the browser and from what you have described I think you should be able to do this without code.

You will be using conditional formatting to to make fields read only and editable depending upon the user who is assigned the form for the next workflow step.

In any form you want to make browser enabled you need to make sure to use the design checker all the time to ensure that you are not adding controls that are for the rich client only (see this http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/infopath/HA101693391033.aspx?pid=CH100211501033) and here is an article on what works and doesnt work in the browser: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/infopath/HA102105871033.aspx (although this changes somewhat for SharePoint 2010).  One thing to think about is that user roles are not supported in the browser.  User roles are an easier way to manage who has access to edit what during a certain workflow state in the form.  In the browser you will need to do this differently.

Hope that helps

Ted

Dear Ted. Thanks for the greetings.

Your post gives me hope of not writing code and achieving my purpose. Using this hope I will try to travel this journey all alone. But if I am not able to I will get back to you.

Thanks again :)