How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 (How to Do Everything) - page 14

Summary

InfoPath relies heavily on XML which provides the flexibility that enables InfoPath to be able to work with a number of systems and database formats, as most will support XML. This chapter introduced you to some basic XML terms and concepts that you will need when getting started with InfoPath, but if you want to know more about XML or how it can be used with your existing applications, there are a number of good books on XML, including Beginner’s Guide to XML (Dave Mercer, McGraw-Hill/ Osborne, 2001) and Learning XML (Erik T. Ray, O’Reilly and Associates, 2001). This chapter also covered how XML is used throughout InfoPath, and the rest of the book will be reinforcing these concepts.

For now, you need to move on to the starting point for all InfoPath users and developers: the InfoPath environment and filling out forms, the subject of the next chapter.

Chapter 3: Work with InfoPath Forms

How to…

Overview

Understand the user interface
Fill out InfoPath forms
Print, save, and distribute InfoPath forms

InfoPath provides two “modes” of operation, depending on whether you are a developer or an end user. For developers, InfoPath provides a powerful environment in which to develop data-based forms, called “design” mode. In any organization that uses InfoPath, however, the number of people who actually design InfoPath forms is relatively small—the rest of the users use a “data entry” mode to fill out the forms that have been created for them.

This chapter focuses on what these end users will experience when they use this mode to enter data into existing forms. This chapter provides most of the information end users need to work with InfoPath and it also provides a good introduction for any developers or “power users” who may want to create their own forms.

Throughout the chapter, you will be looking at some of the sample forms that ship with InfoPath. In addition to providing an “out of the box” solution, you can also use these forms as a starting point for your own form design, which is covered in the next chapter. But for now, you are going to dive into the InfoPath user interface and learn how to work with forms from the end user’s perspective. Whether you are an InfoPath user or developer, it all starts here.

First Looks…

The InfoPath user interface is broken down into two main sections and a number of toolbars and menus , as shown in Figure 3-1.

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Figure 3-1: The InfoPath user interface

The following sections look at each of the areas labeled in Figure 3-1, starting with the Main View.

Main View

The Main View takes up the most real estate within the InfoPath window and is used to display and design forms. This area is empty when you first open InfoPath until you select whether to fill out or design a form. The Main View is used to display the form content, including the fields, tables, and so forth that are part of your form.

The Task Pane

The Task Pane is a dockable menu that contains shortcuts to commonly performed tasks. This area is called a “pane” because it contains a window that changes depending on the task you have selected. For example, if you are designing a form, this pane could contain all the tasks and tools related to form design. Likewise, when you are actually filling out a form, the pane shows tasks and tools relating to data entry.

The drop-down list at the top of the Task Pane controls the task view. There are different views for designing forms, filling out forms, and so on. You can change the view within the Task Pane by using the drop-down menu. Click the down arrow to open a list of available views, like the one shown here.

There are also icons at the top of the Task Pane that allow you to move backward and forward through any pages you may have opened in the Task Pane, as well as a Home icon to take you back to the original page associated with the view you have selected. These icons work in a similar fashion to the Back, Forward, and Home buttons in your web browser and make navigation a little bit easier.

For example, if you had selected to view the tasks related to Design a Form and then clicked New Blank Form and then Layout, you could use the icons to navigate backward or forward within these three pages or click the Home icon to take you back to your starting page (Design a Form).

Tip

You can show the Task Pane by selecting View Task Pane or by selecting CTRL-F1 .

The Menu Bar

The menu bar at the top of the InfoPath window contains all the common Windows menus (File, Edit, and so on). Most of the features and functionality used when working with InfoPath can be found in those menus. Table 3-1 lists the various menus within InfoPath and describes the functionality of the commands they include.

Table 3-1: InfoPath 2003 Menus
Menu	Related Tasks
	Design, fill out, save, print, merge, submit and export forms
	Cut, copy, paste, select all items, undo, redo, find and replace objects
	Control the Task Pane, toolbars, and other tools
	Insert tables, lines, pictures, hyperlinks , and sections
	Format fonts, bullets, numbering, borders, shading and objects
	Check spelling, change language settings, show error messages, use digital signatures, program customization and options
	Insert and format tables
	Invoke help, Internet links, product activation, customer feedback, detect and repair

Toolbars

To make working with InfoPath a little easier, commonly used features have been organized into icons that appear on various toolbars.

Note

The toolbars are also dockable so that you can move them around the InfoPath window by dragging and dropping them in place using the handle that appears on the left side of the toolbar.

There are four toolbars available (Standard, Tables, Formatting, Task Pane) and you can control which toolbars appear by right-clicking in the menu bar and selecting the menu you want to see. Menus with a check mark are visible—those without are hidden.

Note

Since this chapter focuses on filling out forms, it looks only at the Standard and Formatting toolbars. The chapters in which you actually design forms will discuss the features and functionalities contained in the other two toolbars.

The Standard toolbar contains shortcuts to some of the most commonly used InfoPath features. Table 3-2 lists the different icons on this toolbar and what each is used for.

Table 3-2: InfoPath 2003 Standard Toolbar Buttons
Button	Name	Description
	Fill Out a Form	Displays the Fill Out a Form view in the Task Pane, which allows you to select a form to complete
	Open	Displays the Open dialog form and allows you to open an InfoPath form from the file system or SharePoint server
	Save	Saves the current form
	Print	Prints the current form
	Print Preview	Displays a WYSIWYG preview of how the form will look when printed
	Spelling	Verifies the spelling of the data you have entered into a form
	Cut	Removes the selection to the Clipboard
	Copy	Duplicates the selection to the Clipboard
	Paste	Copies the content of the Clipboard
	Undo	Reverts to the state before you performed the last action
	Redo	Performs the last action again
	Insert Hyperlink	Adds hyperlinks to Rich Text Format (RTF) fields on your form
	Insert Table	Adds tables to Rich Text fields on your form
	Insert Picture	Adds pictures to Rich Text fields on your form
	Design This Form	Changes the “mode” to show the design of the form
	Digital Signatures	Adds digital signatures to your InfoPath forms
	Microsoft Office InfoPath Help	Opens the InfoPath Help in the Task Pane

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The Formatting toolbar is used to format the data you enter on a form—if you have used Microsoft Word and are familiar with formatting text, the formatting options are similar here. Table 3-3 lists all the icons in the Formatting toolbar and their use with Rich Text fields.

Table 3-3: InfoPath 2003 Formatting Toolbar Buttons
Button	Name	Description
	Font	Opens the Font view in the Task Pane
	Font Name	Changes the font name of the selected text
	Font Size	Changes the font size of the selected text
	Bold	Applies emphasis to the selected text
	Italic	Italicizes the selected text
	Underline	Underlines the selected text
	Align Left	Aligns the selected text block to the left
	Align Middle	Aligns the selected text block to the middle
	Align Right	Aligns the selected text block to the right
	Justify	Spreads the alignment of the selected text block evenly across the selected area
	Numbering	Creates a numbered list from the selected text
	Bullets	Creates a bulleted list from the selected text
	Decrease Indent	Removes space immediately preceding the selected text
	Increase Indent	Adds space immediately preceding the selected text
	Highlight	Changes the background color of the selected text
	Font Color	Changes the color of the selected text