Getting Started with InfoPath Forms Services

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InfoPath Forms Services, as part of either Office Forms Server 2007 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, provides a Web browser experience for filling out InfoPath forms. For computers that do not have Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 installed, users are able to work with the same form layout and logic as a user with InfoPath installed on their computer. Additionally, the same form can be used in the browser or in the client, which simplifies the form template design and management process. The InfoPath Forms Services technology is built as a feature on the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 platform.

Get started with designing InfoPath form templates (.xsn files) by creating them in the Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 design mode, and publishing them to a server running InfoPath Forms Services, where they are converted into browser-enabled forms that work in a Web browser much like they do in Office InfoPath 2007.

About InfoPath Forms Services

InfoPath Forms Services requires a server capable of running Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007, and a license to access the form publishing and rendering functionality. Here are some points to quickly familiarize you with the capabilities of InfoPath Forms Services:

  • There is a subset of Office InfoPath 2007 features that do not work in the browser. For more information, see the Design-Once Feature Compatibility topic.

  • Designing form templates with custom code, or those without custom code but needing Full trust, requires Administrator deployment. While Domain trust form templates without code can be directly published and are immediately available on a SharePoint site, form templates with custom code require additional steps in order to work as browser-enabled forms. For more information about deploying a form template with code, see How to: Deploy Form Templates That Contain Form Code.

  • Forms work on a variety of Web browsers on multiple platforms, including mobile devices.

Topics and Resources

Start with the Developing and Deploying Form Templates for InfoPath Forms Services topic. Once you have an InfoPath form template working in the browser, you may want to create one that has custom code. To learn more about deploying a form template with code, see the How to: Deploy Form Templates That Contain Form Code topic.

To create a custom Web page that can host an InfoPath form, see Authoring Custom Web Pages That Contain the XmlFormView Control.

To create form templates for use on mobile devices, see Designing Form Templates For Use On A Mobile Device.

To migrate existing InfoPath 2003 form templates for use with InfoPath Forms Services, see Migrating an Existing Form Template.

For a list of step-by-step topics covering a variety of scenarios, see How Do I...in InfoPath Forms Services.

For more articles and resources for learning about InfoPath and InfoPath Forms Services, go to the InfoPath Developer Portal on MSDN.