InfoPath Dev

Hello, I have a form that I execute from my PC and would like to now run it on Sharepoint, as my understanding is that Sharepoint is where most organizations run it for people in the organization to use the form. The form also has connections to a sql server database to retrieve data, not to load data. Our sharepoint site is currently not configured for Infopath. I'm not familiar with Sharepoint as an admin, and I have seen posts on this site about publishing an infopath form to sharepoint, but nothing on how to configure sharepoint for infopath and how to allow it to have data connections to extract data from SQL Server. I assume I need Admin rights and need to do some configuration first, but don't know the steps. ARe there any posts in this forum that provide the steps I need to do to configure sharepoint? And do I need admin rights? Thanks for any assistance...Lou

If you want to use the form as a browser form in SharePoint, InfoPath Forms Services needs to be configured in Central Admin - so you'd need to be a farm admin or have a farm admin configure it. This post refers to SharePoint 2016, but the settings are in the same place in older versions of SharePoint: https://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/a/227330/6297

Thank you Hilary. It turns out that our organization will not allow Infopath to run on Sharepoint, so unfortunately I can't use Sharepoint as a solution to host this. I can do more research, but are there additional platforms that Infopath services can run on to allow people to fill out the form and have the ability to connect to sql server to READ/extract data (not insert data)? Thanks for your help!..Lou

If your form users have InfoPath Filler installed, you can publish to a network location: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/publish-a-form-template-to-a-shared-network-location-d069e3a0-8acd-4f8c-a560-6ba7515a203d

So if I understand correctly, if I publish this to a network drive that users can access, each of the users would have to download Infopath to their PC in order to use this form? I am not clear if downloading Infopath filler is the same thing as Infopath itself (i.e, what I downloaded)?. I suppose I can provide a link on our sharepoint site to where users can go to download the software if they need to fill out the form, but need clarification on what they would be downloading vs what I downloaded. Thanks! Lou

I am guessing you installed InfoPath on your machine. InfoPath installation includes InfoPath Designer and InfoPath Filler. If I recall correctly, at one point it was possible to install these separately, but yes, in general, your users will have to have InfoPath installed unless you intend to use InfoPath Forms Services (i.e. allow InfoPath forms in the browser in SharePoint).

Thank you Hilary. I will try this out. Lou

The data connection for this form is using my credentials to connect to SQL server. I'd like to change this to instead use the credentials of a generic service account. Is there a way I can modify the data connection to change the credentials? I see the option to enter the credentials when I create a new connection (see attached screen shot), but I don't see this option if I try to modify the data connection. I'm trying to avoid having to rebuild everything and just change the credentials. Is this possible?

I think if you go into the data connection wizard to modify the connection and select Change Database you can create a new connection to the same database but enter your SQL Auth info.

Thanks. I think I have it working now

Hello, I have published my infopath app (which has multiple connections to a sql server database) on a network drive. It works fine for me when I run it, or when another developer runs it. However, when I have a user (who downloaded the infopath software to their PC) run it, they get an error message for each of the data connections. The error message says 'infopath cannot run the specified query. Infopath cannot connect to the data source. Infopath has encountered an error. The operation failed'. I have configured the data connections to use a global service account that has access to the database, but it somehow doesn't seem to realize that. Am I supposed to install a driver or something on the network drive where the app is published? Thanks for any assistance. Lou

 You might ensure that the network drive is mapped to the same drive letter (https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/4869ef03-393a-4469-8e2e-efcae50c9127/infopath-failed-connection-to-data-source-error-but-only-for-one-user?forum=sharepointcustomizationprevious). I'd also check if the same version (including updates) of InfoPath is installed on the user's machine, make sure patches are installed, etc.

Thanks, but the link you provide is invalid. I get a message saying the site is under maintenance. Perhaps this is temporary, but wanted to let you know. Lou

Ok - that's a Microsoft site, and it loads for me, but here's a screenshot of the post. Basically, the original poster had the same error with a network-published form with SQL connections and it turned out not everyone was mapped to the same drive letter. Have you checked that with your user with the issue?

Thanks for the response. I believe the users have the same version of infopath as me and the other developer. I'm thinking it may be the mapping to the network drive. I am trying to republish the form to the network drive from my PC, and in the box where you put in the form template path and file name, I'm trying to put in the true full network name instead of the letter I have it mapped as. I have it mapped to D:\. The true path name of the drive appears to be SLODRA (\\JLLNCCICNSF02\C_CCA_GROUPS). But when I put this full path name in and click Next, I get the message saying the path is invalid