Plan deployment of form templates (Office SharePoint Server)
Applies To: Office SharePoint Server 2007
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Topic Last Modified: 2016-11-14
In this article:
Browser-compatible form templates
Scenario: Insurance claims processing
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 enables you to deploy rich forms on a server running InfoPath Forms Services that can be opened in Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, or in a Web browser. Browser-compatible form templates (.xsn files) created in the design mode of the InfoPath client can be published to a document library as browser-enabled form templates that run on InfoPath Forms Services.
You can also upload form templates to a document library that are not browser-compatible. These form templates can only be opened in Office InfoPath 2007.
| Worksheet action |
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Use the Inventory of existing forms worksheet (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73266) to list your current form inventory. |
Browser-compatible form templates
There are two categories of browser-compatible form templates: user form templates and administrator-approved form templates. Form templates that do not contain managed code, require full trust, or use a data connection managed by an administrator may be deployed by any user with the Add and customize pages permission. This permission is granted by default to the Design permission level and above on the site collection, but may be granted to any group or user by a site collection administrator.
Note
For more information on customizing permissions for groups and users, see the Office SharePoint Server 2007 article, Define custom permission levels (Office SharePoint Server). Form templates that contain managed code (business logic that incorporates extended functionality such as database queries or integration with third-party application servers), require full trust, or use a data connection managed by an administrator can only be deployed by an administrator.
Important
In addition to planning for the deployment of form templates, you should also plan a review and testing strategy for deployment of administrator-approved form templates. Because administrator-approved form templates contain code that could run under an administrative user account, it is important that they be subjected to thorough review and testing before they are deployed to a production environment. For more information, see Plan deployment of administrator-approved form templates (Office SharePoint Server).
Scenario: Insurance claims processing
This section describes a scenario for the deployment of browser-compatible form templates.
Humongous Insurance, a large insurance organization, introduces Office SharePoint Server 2007 into their environment to enable customers, insurance agents, and related businesses to use online forms for processing insurance claims. The organization has been using InfoPath 2003 internally but is now using InfoPath Forms Services to make forms available to their customers online.
Ted, the lead form template designer for Humongous Insurance, has just completed the design of a form template that allows customers to manage their policy online. Since the form contains business logic and data connections that are managed by the Office SharePoint Server 2007 administration group, he cannot publish the form directly to InfoPath Forms Services. Ted publishes the form template to a network location specified by the administrator, where it can be checked for compliance with design standards for form templates. He then notifies the administrator that the form template is ready for review.
Jorje, the InfoPath Forms Services administrator in charge of validation of form templates, sees the new form template in the network folder. The policy for new form templates at Humongous Insurance is to first validate the template by reviewing the code for compliance with security regulations and design standards, and then to upload the form template to a staging environment for further testing. Jorje reviews the code by opening the form template in the InfoPath program. Then he checks to make sure that the form template code calls the correct data connection, the form template is signed with a digital certificate, and trust settings are configured correctly. When he is satisfied that the form template is compliant with design standards, Jorje uploads the template to the staging environment, which closely matches the production Office SharePoint Server 2007 architecture.
Once the form template has been uploaded to the staging environment, Jorje logs in as a test user and opens the Web page where the form resides. Following his template review checklist, he fills out the form by using every available field and submits it, following this process several times and changing specific data, check box selections, and menu command selections each time. He also verifies that form data is being correctly submitted to the database and that business logic is functioning properly. Once the testing process is complete, Jorje signs off on the review checklist and uploads the form template to the production environment.
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See Also
Concepts
Plan what form templates are needed (Office SharePoint Server)
Plan deployment of administrator-approved form templates (Office SharePoint Server)