InfoPath Dev

I have a question concerning the capabilities of InfoPath. I am trying to create a form for working offline in a mobile mode (using tablet pc) for recording details of a property survey. The survey captures in the region of 3000 fields of data. Traditionally this was carried out using a paper based form with tick boxes etc. The form is complicated and requires training to enable the form to be completed. The business is seeking to identify the best solution to manage this electronically. One option is to use a digital pen on paper to upload direct to application server. The other option is to use InfoPath.

The problem is that the business wants the form to be laid out similar to the paper based form. This is proving difficult. One field may required 10 radio options or 10 text boxes and this happens consistently throughout the form. Obviously this then creates a large number of controls and components. At an early stage the form with it's associated datasource (from web service using offline caching) crept up in size and load time.

I am almost convinced that InfoPath is not the best way to handle this but then again I might be missing a clever way of utilizing InfoPath. I know more information is required to make a reasonable guess on whether InfoPath is right or wrong solution but I am wondering if anyone can offer guidance on this issue....

Thanks for taking the time to read..........

Spudy, 3K fields of data is sure quite a huge size :-) However, the load time and, more generally, a comfortable handling of form data can be achieved by splitting up controls in different views.

This way, the rendering engine can display small chunks of information at a time, which can dramatically increase the form performance.

I'm saying dramatically because, as an example, an IP2007 (client + Forms Services) solution I developed almost one year ago went from 30-40 seconds down to 4-5 seconds of load time just after a better handling of views and displayed controls.

So my suggestion is: (1) measure and (2) try measure and compare results with a wise use of views.

HTH.

Ciao