InfoPath Dev

My company has a large number of forms that are filled out in Word.  Much of the data that is used in these forms is contained within a SQL 2008 database, and my hope is that InfoPath may be a product that could be used to save a lot of people a lot of work.  However, one basic question I have about InfoPath 2007 is, can you set up a form so that it can pull data out of a SQL data base, without allowing users to edit any data contained by the database within the InfoPath form?

If that is possible one follow up question is can you set up a form to auto fill Check Boxes and Option Buttons, based on data pulled from a data base?

These two questions will go a long ways towards determining if InfoPath 2007 is the product that is right for the company and I am deeply grateful for any answers.

Thank you,

J

Hi J,

Yes, most of our InfoPath forms query SQL databases through web services. Queries alone won't lead to database edits, but you can support writing data back to the database if you need to send your InfoPath forms data to a downstream business process.

Checkboxes and Option Buttons can also be populated using Form Load rules. Simple to setup.

Main benefit will be XML Template Parts - you can develop common sections that you can drag-and-drop in the InfoPath Designer to quickly construct forms.

Let us know if you'd like to talk further,

Sorry for the delay, but wanted to stop by this thread again and say thank you for the information.

We're releasing a new free trial of qRules v3.3 this month. qRules v3.3 will include a command to let you do parameterized queries of your SQL database. That means you can use a field in your form to filter data from SQL. The command is a little complex to configure, but the good news is you don't need to write code nor install a Web service. Let me know if you'd like to see a demo of that.