Introduction

Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003, to give the application its full title, is a powerful new XML-based enterprise forms tool from Microsoft. InfoPath is designed to be a multipurpose XML forms tool that you can use to connect to traditional relational databases such as Microsoft Access and SQL Server, to connect to XML Web services, or to connect to Microsoft collaboration products such as Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft BizTalk Server.

InfoPath 2003 isn't a completely general-purpose XML forms tool, because form templates created using InfoPath 2003 can be filled in only by using the InfoPath 2003 client. You cannot fill in an InfoPath form template using a Web browser. This means that common scenarios where a casual user fills in a form are not possible when the forms designer uses InfoPath 2003 form templates. These characteristics of InfoPath 2003 make it more suitable for intranet and enterprise use than for use on the Internet. However, in business scenarios where an individual is repeatedly filling out a defined set of forms for business purposes, InfoPath offers advantages over previous custom forms solutions.

InfoPath 2003 provides wizards to assist the forms developer in common tasks such as connecting to an Access or SQL Server database. If the wizards don't provide a solution, the forms developer has the option of using JScript and VBScript to create event handlers containing custom scripts to manipulate the InfoPath object model.

InfoPath provides options for data validation with three separate techniques ”W3C XML Schema, rules created using the InfoPath user interface, and scripting code. Together, these techniques provide a powerful capability to constrain values to desired types and ranges of values.

Full use of the capabilities of InfoPath depends on the understanding and application of all the aforementioned technologies. When these technologies are used in this book, the purpose of the parts of the scripting code will be explained, but no attempt will be made to teach you the scripting technologies from scratch.