InfoPath Dev

I was going to use a Sharepoint List to store information regarding repairs. Each unit in a project could have multiple repairs, so lets say 75 units with 10 repairs each. We would then have 5 projects per year, so that would be 3,750 entries per year, and of course could run for multiple years. I was going to create one sharepoint list and then filter the data using an Infopath form. I am of course concerned that the data connection could become so large that it takes forever to load the info. I could create a list for each project, or break it down further I guess. I don't know alot about DBXL, but would it serve my purposes better? Would I basically use a library instead of a list for each item, then use DBXL in between and filter my requests? I already use Qrules extensively. Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Do you need those individual list items? (3700+ per year)

Usually people store SharePoint list items for reporting purposes. If that's the case here, then you could use DBXL and store those 3700+ yearly records in SQL. You can use the QueryDB web service to query items and filter server-side. You would be storing the data in SQL which allows for reporting.

If you only have 5 projects per year, each xml form could represent one unit. So you could have 75 XML files per year. An XML file with 10 repairs (repeating section) would be pretty fast.

In DBXL, you can create conditional mappings to a form library. So you could potentially map each year to a different SharePoint form library. 75 items in each form library would be pretty manageable.

There's a free trial of DBXL available on Qdabra.com and there's free training available here: http://www.infopathdev.com/files/folders/dbxl/default.aspx

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the reply. I really need individual reporting on the specific repairs, so I'm not crazy about the xml form with repeating sections. I'm not crazy about how that works. If I set up an MS SQL database using an online host/provider could I populate it with the repair items through infopath, and manage the data back into infopath, all using DBXL and the online MS SQL?  Also, we are using Office 365..

Oh, you're using Office 365. That changes things, since you don't have a server (with SharePoint and SQL) that you can install DBXL on.

But don't fear, you could look at the DBXL Standalone Edition. You could install SQL Express on a local machine, and install DBXL on that machine as well. DBXL would be able to retrieve (download only) the SharePoint forms (the XMLs, not the list items) and then map them to SQL for reporting. Since SQL Express is free and the DBXL trial is free, this would be an easy option to try out.

If you need individual reporting on the items in the repeating table, you would just set up the DBXL->SQL mapping to provide a SQL row for each line in the repeating table.

DBXL is available on Qdabra.com, and free training is available here (lab 2 talks about SQL mappings and lab 10 includes the Standalone scenario).