InfoPath Dev

I have created an InfoPath Form, published it to a SharePoint Doc Library and a Forms Library(for testing sake). I uploaded it from the Doc Library to a Site content type in the SharePoint Document Library and also a Content Type in the Forms Library. The form opens from the “New Document” list of Content Types and functions as expected. I have added Site Columns to the Content Type that I want to appear in the Document Information Panel (DIP). The Document Library is set to open documents in the client application as the DIP does not appear when a document are opened in the browser. The default on the Forms Library is InfoPath. If I open a Word Doc template from a Content Type in the same Doc library, the DIP opens at the top of the form and adds the column data to the Doc Library when I save the Word Form.  The DIP does not appear when I open the InfoPath Form. I created a Custom DIP in InfoPath Designer and published it to the InfoPath Content Type that was added to both Libraries. When I open the form, there is still no DIP visible. If I save the Form to either Library and edit its properties, the Library fields which are the same as the DIP fields are there and when I add them they appear in the columns of the Doc Library which is my objective for the DIP. The Form was created as a web browser form.

Will an InfoPath form display a DIP in Filler?

I need to save the form as a record and capture indexing data in the DIP when the Form is saved, how do I get the DIP to show up when I open the InfoPath form?

Thanks,

Bob

I didn't find a solution that mimics the way I use DPI's with most Office documents, but I did find a solution that works for me.

First I saved the form as a InfoPath Filler Form Template.xsn

I then published it again using the Publish feature, not the Quick Publish, and Selected the form Fields I wanted to be saved to the Library. I had changed the names of the fields in the form after I connected the SharePoint lists as datasources to the form, so I had to change the views, etc. in the Library to use the Fields that the Form created when I published it to the Content Type.

The Form did create those fileds in the Site Content type and in each library where the content type had been added.

This apparenly eliminated the Custom DPI I had created, but it does make it easy to Name the form and save it to the Library. None of the Fields that the Form creates are linked, but you can open the form by selecting the Name in the Library. It opens only in InfoPath Filler and I have not gone back to try it again as a Web Browser Form.

Best Practice lesson is to use the same field names in the form as you use in SharePoint, where possible. There are instances where you can't use a duplicate field name, but I will try to make them close in the future.

I was not able to open an InfoPath Form and have the DPI appear at the head of the form as it does in other Office documents, but I now have a solution that saves the meta data from the form to the Library and that was my original objective. If you have any other ideas or feedback, please send it along.

Bob