SharePoint and InfoPath: A Powerful Duo

Modifying the Form Library
The last order of business is to tidy up the newly created form library. Usually, this involves simply modifying the general settings for that library. By default, the display name for the library is the same as the name you specified in the Publishing Wizard. The following example shows how to change the display name of status to Status Report:

1. In Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), navigate to http://server2003ee/sites/reports/status.
2. In the left navigation bar, click Modify settings and columns.
3. On the Customize status screen, in the General Settings section, click Change general settings.
4. On the Form Library Settings: status screen, in the Name and Description section, type Status Report in the Name box and click OK.

In addition to changing the form library name, you might need to adjust settings for displaying columns. By default, all the fields that you promoted as SharePoint columns during the publishing process will appear in the All Forms view of the form library, but there are additional built-in SharePoint columns that you might prefer to suppress in this view. Continuing on the Customize Status Report page, perform these steps to customize column settings in the All Forms view:

1. On the Customize Status Report page, click All Forms.
2. On the Status Report: Edit View page, in the Columns section, clear the Display check boxes for the Type (icon linked to document), Modified, Modified By, and Checked Out To (link to username to user details page) columns.
3. For the E-mail column, change the Position from Left value to 7.
4. Click OK.

Better Together
Strong integration exists between SharePoint Services 2.0 and InfoPath 2003 SP2, which gives IT professionals another option for easily collecting and sharing information in a collaborative environment. InfoPath stores data as XML-based form files. These files have a consistent structure, and thereby are more predictable than other file types if programmatic requirements arise. However, InfoPath 2003 SP2 provides no browser-form capabilities. Users must have the InfoPath client installed on their machines to access the rich controls, advanced data validation, and conditional formatting of form files. Therefore, you might consider upgrading to Office InfoPath 2007, which does provide browser-form capabilities for InfoPath form files.

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