InfoPath Dev

Hi, I am new to Infopath and sharepoint and have a question regarding best practices to structure infopath forms. I have 4 forms which contain a common part i.e. user information and is pre-populated through some code. I was wondering what is the best way to have that part as a template and integrate it in the other 4 forms without much duplication etc. thanks, Khurram

Hi Khurram,

Yes, you should use an XTP to define that common section. In general best practices are:

• Use XML Template Parts (XTPs) to increase consistency and reduce time to create forms
• Use Universal Data Connection (UDCs) to define data connections that you reference in your XTPs 
• Make sure repeating groups always have a non-repeating parent that is not the root node - makes it easy to use xpath to address contents
• etc.

Happy trails!

Hi Patrick, Thanks for the reply. Can I have a code associated with the XTP? The reusable part of my template also has some code to pre-populate user information and was wondering if it can be saved with the template? thanks, khurram

XTPs don't support code. They support view, rules, schema, and data connections but not code. You can pre-populate users without code.

I need to pre-populate user profile information recuperated from SharePoint context through some custom code.

Why can't you just call the GetUserProfileName Web Service? That doesn't require code.

Because the user information is loaded in the sharepoint site context and its from there that i want to retrieve it. Also we are using commerce server profiles.

How about Qdabra's Active Directory Web Service? No code there either. Writing your own code will work. There are several threads in this forum that show how to do it but you will have to search for a few minutes to find them.