Newbie Questions

Re: Is InfoPath right for me?

nukkumatti — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:02:53 GMT

Don't worry you are on the right track and to be honest I also would have chosen InfoPath instead of Word. InfoPath offers so many out of the box functionalities for conditional formatting, rules etc.

Yes information can be used for analysis, you can for example use a dataconnection to a SQL Server to submit all your information to the database form where you can then run some queries. Also as mentioned already InfoPath together with SharePoint is just great, especially when you use InfoPath 2007 and MOSS to create some nice workflow.

The only point (talking about InfoPath 2003) which is not that nice is the printing. Sometimes it is really difficult to handle the print layout.

Re: Is InfoPath right for me?

Aye Caramba — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:35:53 GMT

On this same subject (man I hope I haven't wasted my time, but here goes....) I hope Infopath is the right choice.

We are currently using a word document/template that has at least 40 to 50 fields that need to be populated. In some of those fields there are hyperlinks that take the user to ANOTHER word document where the values of those fields are stored.

Anyway - I have been asked to update these links and the overall document. I thought of different software to use and came upon Infopath.

I have created my new form and it's working great (or so I think - it's still in the development stages) - however, I've noticed (while visiting this site and other help forums) that a lot of users of infopath use it for other things or complicated business uses.

What I mean is that I've notice folks extracting info from the forms to excel or databases, I've also seen where infopath forms interact with other software to either retrieve info for drop down lists or other controls on the forms.

The form I have created is really simple. Most of the information that will need to be inputted is in either drop down lists or the user checks a box, etc.

And since I'm a total newb to infopath, I've spent quite a few days so far in creating my form. It would have taken me less time just to update the old word document/template.

So - Did I choose the right software to create my new "Form"? When I Preview the form, it's doing exactly what I intended it to do - as well as when I print it. I guess I have probably answered my own question. I'm just hoping that down the line I don't encounter problems with it that I can't fix (again being a newb and all). My form captures a lot of detail information on loans that we provide. I'm now wondering if information entered in this form can be extracted to do some analysis? Hmmmm?

Anyway - thanks for letting me shout out! I'm sure I'll be visiting this site regularly as I have found some awesome helpful hints, and since I don't have a user's guide or manual for Infopath - this site has been really, really helpful.

Thanks

Aye

Re: Is InfoPath right for me?

Navid — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 16:26:20 GMT

Hi calculon !
If u are familiar with SharePoint , it can solve this problem in a good way for u !
u can create a list on it and say it to export all datas automatically to excel !
but this is one little advantages of sharepoint and at first u should decide to use share point or not .... because it's one of Microsoft'd Servers ...
SharePoint works good with office programs such as infoPath or Excel and so on ....

Re: Is InfoPath right for me?

Kalyan Gaddam — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:35:44 GMT

Hello
Welcome to Infopath forums

Read the Link below
http://www.infopathdev.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=213

Hope it helps you

Is InfoPath right for me?

Calculon — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 21:58:20 GMT

Hi! I'm new here so if this has been asked before please don't shoot!

I work for a small retail store and I have been charged with getting all of our old sales records input into an Excel spreadsheet for importing into Quickbooks. These sales records all include customer's names, phone numbers, addresses and dates of purchase.
It would be a lot easier for me to spend and hour or so making one form in InfoPath, setting it up for proper export to my Excel spreadsheet, rather than entering all the data into Excel manually.

Of course, either method is a lot easier than entering everything into Quickbooks!

Thank you in advance for any replies!

Calculon