InfoPath Dev

I'm trying to decide how to deploy a large number of forms in SPS2. I'm leaning towards using InfoPath and need to understand the best approach for capturing and managing data. I understand the direct linkage with Access or SQL Server, but I'm intrigued by the capabilities of form libraries as an alternative. Is there any way to get (bulk) data into form library other than through an InfoPath form? We have existing data in Access database tables we would like to include in the libraries for forms & reports. We certainly don't want to re-key in the data using forms. I know you can export and/or link with Access, but it appears to be a one-way street. Correct?

Is there any (potential) relationship between a Sharepoint List and a Form Library? It would be nice to create one or the other and have them linked.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

By the way, I found your site using a Google search. It looks great and may well develop into the best resource for InfoPath developers on the Web.

Using the Explorer View, you can manually copy forms into the form library. SharePoint supports bulk upload as well and you can save from an Office client to the http site. You've probably discovered these options already.

SharePoint is a very simple way to get views and reporting on InfoPath data. The limitation is in the promotion - it's flat. That means you will never be able to do advanced queries. You'll be able to pivot on 1 or 2 columns - SharePoint supports Group By in the view settings. By default you can set the GroupBy to collapsed. In addition, you can implement filters to narrow the view down. I have used both techniques to create a manageable and discoverable view on a form library with many hundreds or even thousands of forms.

SharePoint views have some default features - like the [me] filter. It would be cool to hook this up but I haven't figured out how to promote the InfoPath properties in a format that will allow [me] to work on it. In addition, there is a calendar view and you can use date time promoted properties to set start time and end time.

You can use FrontPage to create views onto Access and SQL data. In addition, you can develop SharePoint webparts to query a database or a form library and display data in a richer way. Sounds like you want to use Access data to prepopulate forms. One way to do this is to export the data into an Excel spreadsheet that binds the data to a schema and saves it as xml files. Then, you'll have to upload the xml files to the form lib and relink them. Don't know if this will work and it may be problematic to map the Access data to a very hierarchical XML structure, but it's worth a shot. Otherwise, you could create some automation in your InfoPath form that automatically loaded the data from Access, saved it as a form and looped through the database doing this. The form would have to be full trust and it would be a one-time operation.

There is no realtionship between a SharePoint list and a form library, although you can use SharePoint list data connector in your form to prepopulate data. The Form Library is derived from a Document Library and is id 115. Best way to link is through the InfoPath form.

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I planning to try three approaches (Sharepoint form libraries, link to Access view InfoPath, and dataview web part link to Access). Since the applications need to be dynamic, i.e. users filling in forms, reports feeding off queried tables, administrators editing and manipulating data, and being able to prepopulate the database, I'm leaning towards the Access link approaches. Have you ever tried uploading an Access database in a Sharepoint document library, then linking to that database via InfoPath? I'm just wondering if this works, since it would provide a great deal of flexibility.

Thanks again.

I haven't tried that, but please let us know if it works. :-)