InfoPath Dev

sorry that this is in the wrong section...probably belongs in the SharePoint integration area....

I had to copy a site from one collection to another.

Upon testing the various lists, I can see I've got problems with the Infopath Forms.

They all talk to various data connection files that are housed in a data connection library that was copied along with the rest of the site. I get an error when opening the forms that says "You do not have permissions to access a SharePoint list that contains data required for this form to function correctly. An error occurred while accessing a data connection (.udcx) file that is required for this form to function correctly. The file cannot be found or you do not have permissions to access it."

Permissions are open to the testers...so I think that's a red herring. I've seen posts that say you have to export the guts of the form and alter the manifest file because it's pointing at incorrect content.... Anyone ever done this type of copy before and know a 1, 2, 3 for resolving the issue?

Looking at the SP logs on the web server, I can see that at least one of these problems is coming because after copying the sites, the form when displayed on the browser is assembling an incorrect link to the udcx file. sort of combining the new and old urls.

I've seen posts on exporting the forms and replacing contentid information or something like that to fix this... but am wondering...once you've edited the exported file parts, how do you reassemble the form and stick it back on the list in SP?

To save a form as source files, from the publish menu, select Export. That gets you files, and you can take a look at the data connections in the manifest file in a text editor. To pack it back up, in the folder of source files, right click on manifest.xsf, select design and the form opens in design mode. From there, File > Save As gives you a packaged up template that you can publish.

If a form won't open in design mode, you can use a free tool like 7-Zip to extract the files, or change the extension from .xsn to .cab and copy the files out to another folder.

ok. if i get it back together, i have to recopy it back into the sharepoint list it applies to, yes?

I've gotten into these things, and can see various ways the files are wrong after the copy.

frequently, the urls that point to lists don't point to /sitename/Lists/listname like i believe they should  Lists is generally left out.

as I examine all this, I'm wondering if even if i repair the urls in there and get the form back into the server if this isn't really the tip of the iceberg and the copied stuff still won't work correctly.

wondering if i won't run into the same issues with the workflows that run on all of this stuff.

thanks for your help

You should be able to preview the form template to verify it prior to publishing it - generally, you have to publish a form template, not just copy it back to the SharePoint list. Are these customized list templates?

These are custom lists that utilize custom content types and custom site columns. I am doing previews...and that is initially how I'm spotting problems. I just rarely have to do any republishing (not quick publish) of stuff between infopath and SharePoint. On our public server (which luckily is not the one these forms are on), certain server settings would disallow publishing the forms back to the list once the source files were customized. then I have to jump through hoops to get the forms back on the server. On this server, I hopefully can publish directly the list

Well, did a lot of comparing the original form's manifest with the new one and adjusted the urls.... form previews ok and appears to function correctly with the list.

New problem is that when i try to publish the form, i got the error

"The publish operation could not be completed It cannot be determined if the form template was successfully published...."

"The SOAP response indicates that an error occurred on the server:

Exception of type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.SoapServer.SoapServerException' was thrown.
<detail><errorstring xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/">
    List does not exist.
    The page you selected contains a list that does not exist.  It may have been deleted by another user.
    </errorstring><errorcode xmlns="0x82000006http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/">0x82000006</errorcode></detail>
"

I'm going to have to look for posts on what might be wrong now.

I've made it futher. Manifest file was missing listID's.  when i plugged in the one for the main data connection, i got a new error

The SOAP response indicates that an error occurred on the server:

Exception of type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.SoapServer.SoapServerException' was thrown.
< detail><errorstring xmlns=http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</errorstring></detail>

continuing to search

I believe I have things fixed.  Basically had an incorrect contenttypeID in the manifest file.  once that was fixed, it appears to work..... now five more forms to repair.