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Replacing a Forms Tool Design

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ReplaceDesign replaces the design of a Groove Forms or InfoPath Forms tool with the design from another Groove Forms or InfoPath Forms tool. All forms, fields, and views defined in the tool are replaced.

The ReplaceDesign operation is intended to make updating Forms tools easier. In some cases, a forms designer will make updates to a source template tool, and then use the ReplaceDesign operation to propagate that design to other tools and spaces. This allows the designer to test the changes in a development instance of the tool before using the changed design in a production instance of the tool that contains important data.

Warning

Some modifications to a design can cause data loss. It is important to test a new design in a non-production instance of the tool before updating the design on production tools that contain important data.

The ReplaceDesign operation:

  • Is used after a forms tool designer has updated the design source instance of the tool to distribute the changes to all other tools that have to be changed.

  • Replaces the entire design of the tool, including views, scripts, form definitions and schema.

See the Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Forms Developer Reference for more information about replacing the design of a Forms tool.

A ReplaceDesign operation can cause a significant amount of data to be communicated between members of workspaces. This operation is significantly less efficient than having a workspace member make minor design changes in each workspace using the Forms designer. When a Forms tool design is changed using the Forms designer, only the design changes will be sent over the network. When the design is replaced by the ReplaceDesign operation or by a user selecting the Groove Replace Design menu item, the entire Forms tool design is sent over the network, even if the new design has only minor changes.

The Design Source tool specified in the HTTP Post URL and the target tool specified in the FormsToolURI parameter must be the same kind of tool. Either both must be Groove Forms Tools Version 5 or both must be InfoPath Forms Tools Version 1. If different kinds of forms tools are specified, the ReplaceDesign operation returns an exception.

When calling this operation with InfoPath Forms Tools, the InfoPath template designs must be compatible.

For each InfoPath form in the current design, the new design must contain an InfoPath form with an identical URN, which is the InfoPath Form ID, and an InfoPath template version that is equal to or greater than the version in the current design.

See Also

Reference

GrooveForms2.ReplaceDesign Operation

Concepts

Accessing Forms Tool Design Information
Getting Information About the InfoPath Template