Filling In Forms

This section describes some features of InfoPath that are relevant to filling in forms.

Text to Guide Users

InfoPath allows you to add text wherever you want on the form area. This can be used to assist users when they're filling in a form.

Autocomplete

InfoPath uses the Internet Explorer rendering engine and therefore also shares Internet Explorer's autocomplete feature. Autocomplete makes use of information previously entered in a form, so if you have some frequently used values to be entered in particular form controls, you don't need to type them in each time.

In addition to the facility to adjust autocomplete described in the sidebar, it is also possible to switch autocomplete on or off for individual text box controls. To do that, right-click the text box control and select Text Box Properties. In the Text Box Properties window that opens, select the Display tab and check or uncheck the Enable Auto-Complete check box, as appropriate.

AUTOCOMPLETE IS SET IN INTERNET EXPLORER

Autocomplete is set in Internet Explorer's options, but it also affects the completion of InfoPath forms. To check or adjust autocomplete settings, select Options on the InfoPath Tools menu. On the General tab, click the Internet Options button, which opens the Internet Explorer Internet Properties window. Select the Content tab. In the Personal Information section, click the Autocomplete button. To enable autocomplete for forms, ensure that the Forms check box is checked.

If you are entering multiple similar entries, it can be helpful to start afresh. You have an option to clear form information by clicking the Clear Forms button. If you enter a single wrong entry, you don't need to clear all forms information ”you can delete the incorrect entry by highlighting the item and then pressing the Delete key. After you have made your desired choices, click OK for each of the windows .

To learn more about the text box form control, see "The Text Box Control," p. 57 (Chapter 4).

Creating a Read-Only Text Box

Sometimes it is desirable to create a read-only text box. To do so, simply right-click on the text box control and select Text Box Properties. On the Text Box Properties window, select the Display tab and check the Read-Only check box.

Find and Replace

As part of its Office-like functionality, InfoPath offers a Find and Replace feature in InfoPath views. The Find and Replace feature only searches text that a user has entered into a view; it doesn't search the labels for form controls or other text put in the view by the form designer.

To use the Find feature, select Find from the Edit menu (or press Ctrl+F). The Find task pane opens. Enter the text you want to search for in the Find What box. You can search up or down, make the search case sensitive, or search for arbitrary strings or whole words. Simple wildcards can be used: an asterisk ( * ) stands for any length of a string, and a question mark ( ? ) stands for a single character.

To use the Find and Replace feature, select Replace from the Edit menu (or press Ctrl+H), which opens the Replace task pane. The Replace task pane provides the same options as the Find task pane but also offers a Replace With box so you can enter the replacement text.

Spell Check

InfoPath can check spelling as you type by default, in a manner similar to other Office programs. Setting spelling options is described in the "Setting InfoPath Options" section later in this chapter.