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InfoPath—The latest forms designer
Tech Forum - Dr. Nitin Paranjpe
 All
said and done, most line-of-business applications require a lot
of data entry. We require a front-end to develop and paint forms,
capture and validate the data and finally store and edit it in a
database. Nothing new here. But usually the data layer, the validation
layer and the front-end layer are all separate entities. Of course
there are tools that help you integrate it all together.
In fact, the latest integrated development
environment (IDE) of VS.NET really gives you the feeling that data,
business logic and the user interface are very nicely integrated.
But that is more due to a very sophisticated IDE rather than the
layers being integrated in reality.
You must realise that for a database, it
does not matter whether data was added by a direct insert command,
through OLEDB, a COM component, an ASP page or Windows forms. Similarly,
for end users, as long they can add and analyse data it doesn’t
matter whether you are using client-server, three-tier, Web based,
.NET based or Java based technology. Validation components are typically
written in isolation wherein these only accept inputs and return
values.
Due to this level of demarcation across
layers, creating a set of data capture forms has always been cumbersome
and code heavy. Of course, the existing development tools help you
automate a lot of stuff, but it’s not been all that easy.
Now there’s InfoPath, and it’s
a cakewalk! InfoPath is a very innocuous-looking tool which makes
data capture as painless and simple as possible, yet without losing
on any possible sophistication you may want! What’s more, this
works across thin bandwidth in a dial-up scenario.
Although it is still a part of Office 2003
beta version, I found it very useful and powerful. Therefore, I
am highlighting its features, functionality and possible shortfalls
here.
As an IT professional, it is important
to know all possible ways of doing things. You never know when the
need will arise. You need to be prepared and you need to have versatile
knowledge.
What is InfoPath?
InfoPath provides a single, fast and versatile mechanism of designing
and managing data capture functionality. It can be used for ad-hoc
data capture as well as sophisticated business validation based
data entry.
The core data format used by InfoPath is
XML. Therefore, you can integrate it with any existing database
source within the organisation. InfoPath does the following:
- Creation of forms.
- Completion (data capture) using these
forms.
- Submission of these forms (data) to
various destinations (databases or other processes).
Very often different applications are used
for entering related data. Here the method of data entry, the development
tool and the destination database can be different. Moreover, users
may be required to do repetitive entry of the same information due
to the diversity of the applications. Data captured in informally
created forms like Word or Excel is difficult to integrate with
the core organisational database. InfoPath can help in such situations.
Data storage
and processing
Firstly, InfoPath can store the form data offline. This is very
useful for roaming users and field staff. When they connect to the
extranet, the data can be sent to the central server and processed
further. During offline entry, data is stored locally on the laptop.
Secondly, data can be stored to a database
directly, or submitted to a Web service for processing. Windows
Sharepoint Service is a new feature that allows team management
of documents. InfoPath can also integrate directly with WSS.
Once data is entered into InfoPath, it
need not go only to one destination. Each data element can be reused
to update other related data sources / applications as well. Thus
the user needs to enter data once and leave the complexity to InfoPath.
Of course, all this needs to be configured and programmed in the
beginning. But the development time is dramatically lower than what
you have ever experienced.
InfoPath features
The forms designer is very flexible. Moreover, the form elements
directly bind to the XML schema. Therefore, the form elements do
not need to worry about data sources, DSN connections, database
drivers and availability of connection.
The XML schema is defined and mapped to
form elements. On submission, individual elements of the XML data
can be used as required to update one or more data sources.
In traditional forms-based applications,
the form designers typically knew the data structure of the back-end
database and then created forms based upon this knowledge. Therefore,
there was always a one-to-one correspondence between the UI element
and the backend database fields. Now, by introducing an XML based—independent—schema
as the data source for the InfoPath form, the possibilities of reuse
and enriched use are dramatically increased.
Compared to Web forms and even Windows
forms, InfoPath is a much more feature-rich forms designer. It provides
many special formats, lists, grids and so on, which would otherwise
require lot of manual tweaking in traditional forms design.
Most importantly, InfoPath is designed
to be an environment for quick data driven forms design. Therefore,
you can create a sophisticated UI in a much lesser time compared
to traditional forms design tools. It even has features, which in
traditional forms are very difficult to integrate, like Rich Text,
AutoCorrect and Spelling Check support. Today, even with .NET a
lot of cumbersome code and patchwork would be needed to provide
such features in a form.
Programming InfoPath
As expected in any Microsoft product, the InfoPath environment is
fully programmable. Hats off to Microsoft on this. Whether it’s
an operating system or database or messaging server or a small desktop
product like MSN Messenger or Outlook Express—everything that
Microsoft makes is programmable. What’s more, it is comprehensively
documented and explained using very rich content.
 Thus
InfoPath has its own object model. Incidentally, the best way to
learn object-oriented design is by understanding how Microsoft makes
object models. Word for example, is one of the most exquisitely
designed and implemented object models. Look at the VS.NET IDE,
delve deeper into Distributed Management Objects for administering
SQL Server or simply learn from the elegant and smart object design
of MS Graph. Anything you lay your hands on is a great learning
opportunity. Open your mind and imbibe knowledge. It provides full
scripting support for validation and UI management. It also provides
programmability for direct Web service integration of the form elements.
Form building
One of the biggest problems in form design is how to manage a one-to-many
data entry scenario. InfoPath solves this problem elegantly. There
are repeating and non-repeating sections in the forms designer.
There are optional sections that can be added at runtime based upon
user needs. It provides brilliant conditional formatting. Something
which we have used in Excel very often. Users often ask why such
features cannot be given in internal Web applications. Here is the
answer. Now this is available without any coding using InfoPath.
Validation
Validation rules are easily definable. Rules can be simple stuff
like range parameters or could be more complex like a custom script.
Views and consolidation
The underlying XML schema for the form can be a pre-existing file
or you can actually create it from scratch. Lists can be populated
from database data. Controls can be data bound with custom rules.
In offline mode, the data in the lookup fields can be cached. The
same forms can have multiple views. The commonest would be detail
and summary. But you can also have tabular v/s descriptive, tabular
v/s graphical and so on.
A brilliant feature is consolidation. Very
often we have to fill up a form for a repetitive task. For example,
if you have gone on four tours and are filing a tour expense form,
you have to fill four separate forms. This is cumbersome. Moreover,
you cannot know information across all forms unless you do things
manually. InfoPath allows you to consolidate multiple instances
of the same form—not a single line of code required for this!
This is a great feature for surveys. Just get individual files in
a directory and choose the Merge options.
 Security
and safety
InfoPath supports digital signatures. For every feature of InfoPath,
I was forced to think how easy or difficult this feature would be
to incorporate in custom-built forms. You know the answer to this
one for digital signatures. Although InfoPath is not a browser-based
application, it does support sandboxing. This ensures that the forms
can access local resources only when explicitly allowed by the security
policy.
I would say the best part of this tool
(and also the worst!) is that it is in reality an independent tool.
It does not require Microsoft Office to be loaded at all. It loads
by itself. This is not a Web-based tool. It runs in its own environment.
This is probably the only disadvantage of this tool. It is not a
deployment free solution. You have to load it once on every machine
that participates in the InfoPath workflow. For internal users and
roaming users with laptops, this is not a problem really. But for
users who want to make use of a cybercafe it does pose a problem.
Where to use
InfoPath?
As of today we have so many tools and technologies to make forms
and integrate these with databases. Now we have one more. When to
use InfoPath and when not to use it must be understood clearly.
For a very tightly controlled line-of-business
application you should continue to use traditional development tools.
But there are scenarios where we do use traditional form design
where you should think of InfoPath. Here is a list of areas where
InfoPath would be useful.
- Ad-hoc forms that are either paper-based
or e-mail-based.
- Forms, which are currently hard-coded
with a single database, but require integration with other databases
or applications.
- Business process automation workflows.
- Mobile and field force information capture.
- Customer level data capture to eliminate
paperwork in forms processing (use along with digital signatures).
- Teamwork involving multiple forms and
multiple persons across locations.
- For consolidation and processing of
similar forms submitted by multiple persons or locations.
This is only a representative list. As
you learn more about the tool, I am sure there will be additional
opportunities that will come to fore.
Conclusion
InfoPath is a great tool, built with finesse, sophistication as
well as simplicity in mind. I would call it a masterpiece that combines
the latest high technology with complete user focus in a single
product—while providing a host of features which traditional
form design environments have not been able to provide even in the
.NET rich client days.
Imagine the amount of code you have to
write to create a set of data capture forms that support generic
schemas, multi-view support, digital signature support, rich text
and image support, spell check and proofing tools support, generic
and dynamic destination support, with full object mode and programmability
and sandboxing. Just leave it all and use InfoPath!
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About the Author:Dr
Nitin Paranjape is the Chairman and MD of Maestros (Mediline).
He is a consultant with many organisations, covering appropriate
technology utilisation, business application of relevant technology,
application architecture and audit as well as knowledge transfer.
He has authored more than 650 articles on various technology-related
subjects. He can be contacted at nitin@mediline.co.in |
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