InfoPath Dev

I am new to InfoPath and I am trying to figure out if a couple of things are even possible.

Here is what I need to do:

1. create a form
2. submit it to sharepoint
3. add it to workflow
4. email to internal recipient who adds information to the form.
5. email it to an external recipient (who has Infopath on their machine)
6. external recipient fills in form and returns to us

I have two questions:

1) Is it possible to have the form auto generate based on a database record showing up in a table and automatically go into sharepoint to start through workflow without manually having to add the form?

2) I would like to track where the form is in process like this (form is created <check>, form is sent to internal recipient <check>, form has been sent to external recipient <check>, form has been returned <check check>.  Is this possible when one of the recipients is not on our network?

I am not asking how to code this, just whether it is possible.

Thanks in advance for any response.

I don't think you can generate the form based on a database record in standard InfoPath but you can create the form and have it autopopulate from the database.  Have you looked at qRules and DBXL to see if they would provide that functionality?

As your other questions, yes, you can do all of that via the workflows in SharePoint you may need to use SharePoint Designer to create the workflow but it is possible.

Thanks for the information.

You're welcome.  Let us know how it works out.

Steps 1-5 look easy to do. For Step 6 you will have to provide extranet config or use Email-to SharePoint approach or to some internal users. Mel Balsamo has a blog post on the latter.

Regarding your questions:

1. To autopopulate XML we have a tool that created XML from an Excel spreadsheet. You could export SQL data to an Excel spreadsheet and run the tool. It's a batch tool though so it is great for pre-populating all records but not a good solution if you want to trigger creation based on SQL. For that, we recommend just custom SQL code. We have done that for projects as well and can help at low hourly rates if you want that kind of consulting. Of course, the tool isn't free but it is cheap. See Excel to XML on the Qdabra site.
2. You can add a tracking section (group with repeating group and fields underneath it) to your form. We have a Change History download that shows this technique. That's easiest. The other options are to use workflow status. Neither require code.

Best regards,