An Alternative Approach

The techniques to accommodate modification described in the preceding section rely on the hand-editing of the files that make up the form template. If you are not fairly fluent in XSLT, W3C XML Schema, and XPath, you might find making such edits with confidence a daunting task.

For relatively simple form templates, you can use an alternative technique that doesn't rely on hand-editing. You can make changes to the data source and then create a new blank view using the Views task pane. Then, copy an existing view (using Ctrl+A to select the entire view and then Ctrl+C to copy it) and paste it (using Ctrl+V) into the new blank view.

After the form controls from the existing view have been copied into the new view, you can add or delete them as appropriate with relative ease. You can then right-click on form controls, select the Change Binding option, and specify the part of the modified data source to which the form control should be bound.

Depending on the type of change(s) you have made to the data source, you might find that InfoPath indicates double binding of form controls to components of the data source. After you work through each form control and change its binding appropriately, all the warnings about double binding should disappear.

This technique, which doesn't require detailed understanding of XSLT and so on, works well for fairly straightforward form templates. However, if you are planning to use InfoPath regularly, it will likely be a good investment of your time to build your understanding of how to edit the various files mentioned.