Newbie Questions

Re: New To: Development / Infopath

Gennady Vanin (Геннадий Ванин, Новосибирск) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 06:49:00 GMT

conkid:
Am I on the right path to assume that I can make something like this function using infopath. Can I use infopath to present a gridview of various tables of data that are editable? I know I can accomplish this with BCS but I need some added functionality that will probably need to be code based

You can but I do not see the point of using Sharepoint and Infopath having already MSSQL infrastructure with its Business Intelligence (MSSQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services), its web-oriented versions/solutions and its integration with .NET which are more flexible and powerful.

IMO, Sharepoint and Infopath are good for simple OOTB gathering of data and their accessing but not for flexible and powerful data managing.

IMO. I see the sense in Sharpoint+Infopath without custom (since sharpeoint uses MSSQL under the hood in the form of "do not touch me for your own psychic health") MSSQL solutions and in custom MSSQL without Sharepoint+Infopath. Their mixture is rather unnecessary pain in that part of the body.

Re: New To: Development / Infopath

Hilary Stoupa — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 23:21:53 GMT

I was hoping someone with more knowledge on BCS would post - I've not worked with it much. Are you wondering if you can use an InfoPath form as the front end to your BCS list? Or just wondering about using InfoPath with databases in general?

New To: Development / Infopath

conkid — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 03:05:02 GMT

Hello All,
First post here. Not much of a developer. More of a hardware guy getting into more software related things because of my work...
I'm looking for some advice. My company's main source of all data is saved in various MS SQL tables. We have one developer on site who writes access based applications to control our major production functions. We have one visual basic application that all data is also saved to MS SQL servers.
I am in the process of implementing our new sharepoint server. We purchased a great server and I've got my virtual machine running and everything is functioning using the new RC of SharePoint 2013. I have built some simple external content types using BCS services with the SharePoint Designer. Most of our development for needed applications is done with Access and various gridviews that allow users to write back to the database.
My goal with SharePoint is to give users simple lists of data that they are able to edit on the fly. An example would be a supplier can login to our system and based on user id, be presented with a list of current purchase orders. They would be able to select the purchase order and it would provide them with a list of CAD/various files appropriate to that purchase order that they may need to produce said part. (These files are saved on our local servers in part folders).
Am I on the right path to assume that I can make something like this function using infopath. Can I use infopath to present a gridview of various tables of data that are editable? I know I can accomplish this with BCS but I need some added functionality that will probably need to be code based :( The sad face is my lack of knowledge of coding. I am working hard to learn but was hoping someone could point me in the right direction resource wise. I have been through about 5 different SharePoint books and have recently gotten a couple on InfoPath. Maybe I need to get some more resources on learning development.
Thanks for any help / resources / guidance and sorry for the long post. I greatly appreciate your advice and hope I can help others in return as my knowledge grows of the content.