June 4, 2005

IN TODAY’S fast paced world, there’s no better way than to have electronically fillable forms. However, one needs to know a programming language to design online forms.

What if you are not familiar with programming and you still want to publish forms which others could fill out and send to you, say your colleagues? The answer is MS Info Path.

Let’s follow an example to learn about the fundamentals of this rich tool. Suppose we have to create an organization-wide feedback form. First, we will create an MS Access database file in which the feedback will be saved, then a form in Info Path.

Creating a database

Open MS Access and go to File>New. Select Blank Database from the task pane on the right hand side. Select path and give a name to the MDB file (Feedback.mdb). Press Create. D-click “Create table in Design view” and enter the following in Field Names: ID, Name, Email, Feedback — each having Data Types AutoNumber, Text, Text, Text respectively.

R-click on ID and select Primary Key. This makes ID a primary key of the table. Press CTRL+S, “Save As” dialogue appears. Enter “Feedback” in Table Name field. Press OK. A table has been created. Exit from MS Access.

Design a form

Once the database has been created, the task now is to map its fields on a form so that when users submit it, data is placed in the corresponding fields in the database.

1. Selecting database

Open MS Info Path. From the task pane on the right hand side, select “Design a Form.” The task pane title changes to Design a Form. Select “New from Data Source.” The Data Source Setup Wizard appears.

Select “Database.” Press Next. Press “Select Database.” Select the MDB file created in MS Access, that is Feedback.mdb. Its fields are displayed. Press Next. The summary frame is displayed, and at the bottom, two options are provided. Select “Design data view first.” Press Finish.

2. Layout

From the task pane, select Layout. Select “Table with Title.” A sample form with title and place to enter fields is created. Edit the tile and set it to “Feedback Form.” From the task pane, select Data Source.

A tree structure appears below in the pane, expand to

myFields>dataFields>d:Feedback which displays fields of the MS Access file selected. Drag the fields Name, Email, Feedback to form area below the title which is marked “Click to add form content.” Note that for each of the three fields dropped, a corresponding text box is placed automatically next to it where users would enter data.

Resize and reposition the fields as required. Note that the ID field is not placed because it is not for the users to fill — it’s there to keep track of the number of feedbacks, as it is an auto-number field.

3. Adding submit button

In the task pane, press Controls. Select “Button” from the list of controls and place it on the from just below the feedback field. D-click the button to bring up its properties. In the General tab, from the Action dropdown, select Submit. The “Submitting Forms” dialogue box appears.

Press Submit Options button. In section “After users submit the form…,” select the second option “Create a new, blank form.” Press OK three times.

Info Path also created a query view of form for viewing purposes only, but since we are using the form for data entry, we are going to delete the query view. In task pane, press Views. Move the mouse over Query, a dropdown arrow appears on the right hand side. Select Delete from it. Press Yes on the confirmation message.

4. Publishing the form

Go to File>Publish. The publishing wizard appears. Press Next. The next screen asks “Where do you want to publish this form?” By default, first option “To a shared folder on this computer or on a network” is selected. Press Next.

This screen displays “Enter the path and file name…” Enter complete path along with a file name (without extension) in “Form path and file name field.” This could be something like “c:\feedbackform.” Press Tab. Note that the second field “Form name” automatically displays “FeedbackForm.” Press Next. Complete path with file name (note that file extension XSN has been appended) appears. Press Finish.

The next screen displays the path where the form has been published. Optionally, press the Notify Users button on this screen. The default email client with a sample email announcing the name and location of the new form is created. Send it to the intended form users or to yourself for a reference. Check “Open this form from its published location.” Press Close.

Congratulations! Your first Info Path form is up and running. Fill in the name, email and feedback fields and press Submit. Open up the MS Access file and verify the inserted data.

  The writer’s email is nizar.ali@gmail.com

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