InfoPath Forms and
Workflows in SP 2010
Wylde Solutions
Sydney SharePoint User Group
18 September 2011
Sydney, Australia
Agenda
 InfoPath Forms
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InfoPath 2010
Forms & Form Templates
Usage in SharePoint 2010
Demo
 Workflows
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Workflows and SharePoint 2010
Standard vs. Custom
Authoring tools
Demo
 Q&A
InfoPath 2010
 InfoPath Designer 2010
 InfoPath Filler 2010
 InfoPath Forms Services
Forms & Form Templates
 Form Templates are form designs
 Created using InfoPath Designer
 Hosted or standalone
 Forms are XML documents
 Filled using InfoPath Filler or browser
 Can be submitted anywhere
 Contain link to Form Template
Usage in SharePoint
 Custom List Forms
 Form Libraries
 External List Forms
 Workflow: Association, Initiation, Tasks etc.
Demo
 Three repositories: Custom List, Form Library, External
List
 Also related lists: Incident Source Types, Incident Types
 Database contains three tables to replicate the data
structure
 Creating and/or modifying InfoPath forms for SharePoint
lists
InfoPath in SP2010 - Advantages
 Easy and quick way to generate forms for Custom and
External Lists
 Great WYSIWYG form designer
 Extensibility
Limitations of Custom List Forms
• No support for document libraries
• No support for managed metadata columns
• No way to publish somewhere else and/or reuse
• No way to generate form for content type
• No support for custom code
Limitations of Form Libraries
• Need to create a form library though it’s not always a
business requirement
• For columns of type Person there is not standard way of
passing the values
Limitations of External List Forms
 No custom code if use with External Item Pickers
 No support for additional Data Sources
Common InfoPath Limitations
 Browser-enabled forms lack true Web experience
 More or less complex scenarios require strong technical
knowledge
 Printing capabilities
Workflows in SharePoint 2010
 Business process automation
 Workflow management system
Standard vs. Custom
From http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepointdesigner/archive/2010/02/22/overview-of-human-workflow-in-sharepoint-2010.aspx
Workflow Authoring Tools
 SharePoint Designer 2010
 Visio 2010 Premium
 Visual Studio 2010
 Etc.
Demo
 Scenario
 Incident submitted -> BU Manager is notified
 BU Manager investigates and if severity is high then notifies
Operations Manager
 Operations Manager provide outcomes and if required
notifies external people
Workflow Management in SP 2010
 Advantages
 Easy to create, modify and publish sequential workflows
 New features for visual authoring and tracking and new steps
and functional improvements
 Flexible and extensible platform built on WWF
 Form customization is pretty easy
 Disadvantages
 Lack of interoperability between standard tools
 SharePoint Designer workflows can be only sequential and UI
is not user-friendly
 Need strong technical knowledge to create complex workflows
Q&A
 Your questions and suggestions
 http://wyldesolutions.com/SharePointQuestions.aspx
Resources
 http://claytoncobb.wordpress.com/
 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/infopath/
 http://wyldesharepoint.blogspot.com
Reference
 Slava Gorbunov – slava@wyldesolutions.com
 Web site: http://wyldesolutions.com
 Blog: http://wyldesharepoint.blogspot.com
 Twitter: @SlavaGorbunov