InfoPath Dev

I have some existing InfoPath 2003 forms that currently are submitted to SharePoint 2003. We are planning on submitting the information onto a SQL 2000 or 2005 DB.
So far I have realized that I cannot do this with an existing form without using a web service (which I have no experience with). I tried to create a new form and that works but will not allow me to submit because of long data types (however the only fields in my test database are int, smalldatetime and vchar(50).... are these considered long types??)

I was hoping someone would point me in the right direction on where to start when integrating InfoPath with a database. Should I create new forms from scratch? or create a web service? and if so steps in creating a web service? pros & cons?

Since this is the first time I am doing this I wanted to get some advice on where to start

The quick and easy answer is to look at the Database Accelerator Suite of Webservices.  http://www.qdabra.com/proddetail.asp?prod=QDBXL1

With DBXL you can convert your existing forms and have them submiting to SQL in under an hour. This also preserves the original document for storage, retreival, searching, and controlled access. It also comes with webparts for SharePoint so that you can still use SharePoint to list them.

Otherwise you have to create your own webservice or you would need to connect directly to the database.  If you are just going to submit the data to SQL, without a webservice, you pretty much are stuck recreating your form. You have to create the form with a database connection initially and then you may run into some limitations.

You can email me directly if you have more questions.

Thanks Clay,

that was really helpful.

Do you know any good sites that show you how to creat a web service that will submit InfoPath form data to a database?

Unfortunately I do not, but I am sure they are out there if you search for them. Or maybe someone else knows of some.