Modifying an Existing Form


By modifying an existing form (or customizing a sample form), you can easily create a form to meet your needs. For example, if a travel itinerary form created by one of your co-workers doesn t include space for additional comments at each stop, you can add a text field ”you can even make the field optional or repeating.

When you are designing a form from scratch, InfoPath can create the form s data source for you. That option is not available when you are modifying an existing form, which uses an established data source. To modify the form, you must also modify the data source.

In this exercise, you will customize a simple time card sample to make it more useful for the payroll personnel at The Garden Company.

BE SURE TO start InfoPath before beginning this exercise.

  1. In the Fill Out a Form task pane, click Design a Form .

    The Design a Form task pane appears.

  2. Click Customize a Sample .

    The Customize a Sample dialog box opens.

  3. Click the Time Card (Simple) sample, and click OK .

    InfoPath displays the sample in design mode, and the Design Tasks task pane displays related tasks.

    click to expand
  4. Scroll down to the Payroll Information section of the form, and click at the beginning of the table cell that contains the text Overtime Pay .

  5. On the Table menu, point to Insert , and then click Rows Below .

    InfoPath inserts a blank row between Overtime Pay and Paid Hours Total .

  6. In the cell directly below Overtime Pay , type Vacation Pay .

  7. In the task pane, click Data Source .

    The task pane displays the data source structure.

    click to expand
  8. In the task pane, click payroll , click the down arrow that appears to the right of it, and in the drop-down list, click Add .

    The Add Field or Group dialog box appears.

  9. In the Name box, type vacationPay .

  10. In the Data type list, click Decimal (double) , and then click OK .

    The new field is added to the list of fields in the payroll group in the Data Source task pane.

    click to expand
  11. In the Payroll Information section of the form, click in the cell immediately to the right of the one in which you typed Vacation Pay .

  12. In the task pane, drag the my:vacationPay field to the cell you just clicked.

    InfoPath inserts a text box into the cell labelled Vacation Pay .

  13. Select the Vacation Pay: label, and press [DEL].

  14. Point to the text box you inserted.

    click to expand

    InfoPath indicates that the text box is configured to collect data for the field you created for vacation pay.

  15. In the Employee section of the form, select the text Home Telephone Number and the text box after it, and press [DEL].

  16. Select the text ID Number and the text box after it, and press [DEL].

    The text boxes and their labels are removed from the form, and your mouse pointer is positioned at the end of the text box labelled Department .

  17. In the Data Source task pane, click employee , click the down arrow that appears to the right of it, and in the drop-down list, click Add .

    The Add Field or Group dialog box appears.

  18. In the Name box, type preferences , in the Type list, click Group , and then click OK .

    The new group is added to the data source list in the task pane.

  19. Click my:preferences , click the down arrow that appears to the right of it, and in the drop-down list, click Add .

    The Add Field or Group dialog box appears.

  20. In the Name box, type mail , and in the Data Type list, click True/False (boolean) .

  21. In the Default Value list, click (Blank) , and then click OK .

    The data source list shows your new group and field.

    click to expand
  22. Near the top of the task pane, click Controls .

    The Controls task pane appears.

  23. Drag the Check Box control to the blank area below the Department text box in the Employee section of the form.

    The Check Box Binding dialog box appears.

    click to expand
  24. Click the plus (+) sign next to employee , and then click the plus (+) sign nextto my:preferences .

  25. Click the mail field, and then click OK .

    InfoPath inserts a check box labelled Mail into the form.

  26. Select the word Mail , and type Please mail my check to me .

    click to expand
  27. On the File menu, click Close , and when prompted to save the form, click Yes .

    The Save As dialog box appears.

  28. Browse to the  My Documents\Microsoft Press\Office 2003 SBS\Design folder. Then in the File name box, type RevisedTimeCard , and click Save.

    InfoPath saves your changes as a new form.

CLOSE the RevisedTimeCard template.

Tip  

To complete a form based on a template saved on your computer, open the Fill Out a Form task pane, and click On My Computer. In the Open dialog box, browse to the location where the form template is saved, select it, and click Open . Form templates are saved with a file extension of .xsn .




Microsoft Office 2003 Step by Step
MicrosoftВ® Office ExcelВ® 2003 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))
ISBN: 0735615187
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 350
Authors: Curtis Frye

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