InfoPath Dev

Platform: 32 bit MOSS 2007 SharePoint, InfoPath 2010 used to generate InfoPath 2007 compatible forms.

Co-workers are developing InfoPath forms to gather information, and then attaching the IP forms to MOSS SP 2007 and AgilePoint.

One of the things that concerns me deals with how to handle fixing problems in the form after it has begun being used in production.

Are there techniques that need to be followed so that changes to the form do not cause the currently "running" applications to fail?

 You are smart to ask before making changes. :)

In general - don't delete, move or rename data source nodes. If you change the validation for a node, consider the impact on previously created XML (i.e. - you allowed a field to be blank in the past & now it can't be, what happens to the previously filled out XML when they are re-opened?).

I usually set my form versioning to auto upgrade existing, because if I add new nodes, I want to make sure they get added to my existing XML on open. But that is also a place where you need to consider how existing XML should behave.

Here's a blog post I did a while back on previewing a template with existing data. I find this invaluable when making changes, because it lets me know what will happen to the XML when it is opened with the changed template.