InfoPath Dev

Hey Everybody,

Here is my issue: 

 I have developed a workflow around an infopath form. After I run my workflow the infopath form will not open in the browser. Instead it only wants to download or open as xml. Ever seen this issue?

The form opens up fine and I am able to save it and open it multiple times pre workflow, but once the workflow starts xml dialog keeps poping up.

I saw a solution in another post here:

http://www.infopathdev.com/forums/p/2708/10627.aspx#10627

about hacking the registry but this only displays the xml in the browser instead of the download dialog that will pop up. It does not open the form using form services.

Any help is appreciated

Hi sdlxcoupe,

I wanted to know that, how do you start the workflow?

In case U R starting the workflow Via Form Library, does the infopath form is rendering as browser ?

As U wrote "After I run my workflow the infopath form will not open in the browser", Which forms U R Talking about,the Task or the Filled infopath form?

Can you please explain your constraint more accurately ?

 

I fill out my infopath form first. So it is sitting there waiting for me to manually start the workflow. Then i start the workflow which reads the data out of the form that i filled out. So far so good. My workflow will run and do the code whcih I programmed in. So then the workflow is complete and has executed fully. Now I go back to my document library where the form is that I filled out and ran the workflow on and when I try to simply click on it to open the form within forms services in the browser it will not open. It wants to download the form as xml. Also even if I try to open using the xml the form will not open (even thought I do have infopath on the machine i am opening it from). o really the only thing that my workflow does is read the data. It does not change anything in the form itself, but apparently it is somehow screwing it up and rendering it useless once the workflow has run on it.

Hi sdlxcoupe,

In order to open an Infopath form in Browser, You have to make the same as browser compatible.

Unless the form is Browser compatible,It cant be rendered in browser.

For the first time, while U are filling the Infopath form,do U fill it in Client infopath Application or the Browser Rendered Infopath Form ?

 

 No it is browser compatible and it was filled out in form services on sharepoint so that would not be my issue, but thanks for trying.

It is important to know if you are modifying the InfoPath form xml inside the Wrokflow and how.

Make sure that the InfoPath xml file still contains the InfoPath instruction tags:

 <?mso-infoPathSolution .....

 <?mso-application progid="InfoPath.Document" ....

 

Most likely you will loose this if you are deserializing the xml and serialized it back.

Please tell us every single detail about the workflow, because two things you wrote caught my attention:

1. Then i start the workflow which reads the data out of the form that i filled out - Does the workflow truly read from the form, or does it read from the library where the form is submitted?
2. My workflow will run and do the code whcih I programmed in - What code does it "do"?  I thought you said it just read from the form, though it should only be able to read from the form library.

I have the same issue here, I have a browser-enabled InfoPath form, it works fine no matter client has InfoPath client installed or not. It works in every situation except the following,  Once the workflow started, the person received the email notification; he/she opened the workflow task like this,

 

Title:	Hiring Manager Task
Description:	Please click on …
Statue:	Approve Reject
Related list item:	john doe

Here is my issue, If client does not have InfoPath or has InfoPath 2003 installed, then when clicking on “john doe” link, the form will be opened in IE browser, But if client has InfoPath 2007 installed on his/her machine, then when clicking on “john doe” link, the form will be opened in InfoPath 2007 (the form is created using InfoPath 2007)

 

I did mouse over the "john doe" link, and find out the url for the form like this http://myportal/MyInfoPathlibrary/john doe.xml

I tried to open this url in IE browser on a machine which has infoPath 2003 installed, the form opens in IE browser successfully. 

The same url I tried open in IE on a machine which has InfoPath 2007 installed, I got "File Download" window popup asking me "Do you want to open or save this file"   

 

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Peter

 

 

Peter,

The hyperlink needs to be the full Forms Server URL (retrieve this by clicking on the doc within the form library and looking at the URL while the form is open in the browser).  You can dynamically create Form URLs within SPD, because the full URL is always the same except for the ID, which is an easy reference for making sure you point to the right form.  The Forms Server URL includes a return URL that tells the browser where to go when someone clicks "close," so you can configure that to do whatever you want.  It defaults to the view of the form library that you originated from...

Hi warrtalon,

Thanks for your quick response. That's a great help.

It makes sense to use the full Forms Server URL and it will work definitly. I opened the workflow task using SPD 2007. I found out the place this url generated by the Out of Box workflow task 

<td ><b>Related list item:</b></td>

<td><a href="{substring-before(@WorkflowLink, ', ')}"><xsl:value-of select="substring-after(@WorkflowLink, ', ')"></xsl:value-of></a></td>

But I am not sure how to replace it with dynamically generate Forms Server URL? The following is the url when this form successfully opened in IE browser 

https://myportal/myinfopathlibrary/_layouts/FormServer.aspx?XmlLocation=/myinfopathlibrary/john doe.xml

 

Thanks again,

Peter

 

 

Use the Build Dynamic String action in SPD, then paste a FULL URL (the one you pasted is not a full URL - they are much longer).  Replace the part of the URL that references the ID of the form with a Lookup to Current Item > ID.  This will set the dynamic URL to a variable that you can then use anywhere you want, such as in the body of an email.

Hi Warrtalon, Thanks for the info. Would like to know whether you are recommending to create a custom workflow using SPD or to just modify the existing out of the box email template of the workflow? In my case, I'm trying to use a out of the box Approval workflow and have the email link changed so that it always opens on browser when user clicks the email link. Any help will be great appreciated. Thanks, frmvis

Yes, i always have to use the Dynamic string builder in SPD, because I don't use code in my solutions, and I don't know how to modify the URL given by a built-in Approval workflow.

Earlier, I mentioned using the ID, but actually you use the filename, which I think is referenced by the piece of metadata named "Encoded Absolute URL."  Use whichever piece of metadata that gives the full filename of the form and embed it within the static URL you see when clicking on a web-based form.