InfoPath SharePoint Integration
Tutorials, tips and techniques for integrating InfoPath forms with SharePoint
If you are getting an Updating Content Type failed error after waiting for a few seconds when trying to publish an InfoPath form to a SharePoint Content Type, you may need to reduce the number of fields/columns that are promoted to SharePoint columns in the Content Type. If there are a large number of fields being promoted, the form will not publish every time, or at all. If this is the reason that the form is not publishing, one solution is to create or modify an item in a separate list from the InfoPath form using the SharePoint Site's Lists Web Service and the UpdateListItems method. The article InfoPath Error - Updating Content Type Failed When Publishing to SharePoint explains how to reduce the number of promoted fields, by sending the data to SharePoint using a CAML (XML) template, the web service and an additional submit data connection.
In an InfoPath Form, I had a Data Connection to a SharePoint list which has almost 500 items. When the form is opened or previewed, only 100 items are being returned from the SharePoint list using the Secondary Data Source of the SharePoint data connection. InfoPath loads items from SharePoint which appear in the default view of the specified list or library. By default, SharePoint limits the total results of a view to 100, which can be changed by modifying the default view. See InfoPath data connection not returning all results from a SharePoint list for details.
Tips for improving and InfoPath form performance when using data connections to SharePoint lists or libraries. Details include using custom views to limit the number of results retrieved by the data connection. Loading times for forms can be impacted significantly when a large number of data connections are being used that all connect to SharePoint lists and libraries.
Create secondary data connections in an InfoPath form to retrieve the CAML template from an XML file, then submit using a second data connection to the Lists web service on the SharePoint site containing the list being updated. The CAML template uses the UpdateListItem function from the web service to update an existing item in a SharePoint list.
The article describes how to configure the data connections required to update the existing item in SharePoint, and includes some additional information relating to date/time formats in CAML queries.
How to integrate InfoPath forms with workflow in SharePoint to give greater control over the functionality and user interface. Use an InfoPath form as the interface for a workflow in SharePoint to allow greater control over the user interface and functionality. Code can be used in the form which is processed by the client if completing a form using Microsoft InfoPath, or in a browser based InfoPath form supplied using SharePoint Forms Server. This reduces processing requirements of the SharePoint server(s), as well as allowing processing using code without worrying about code blocks in SharePoint.
This article provides details, instructions and a function to convert date/time field values into ISO 8601 format when updating date/time fields in a SharePoint list using a CAML query from an InfoPath form. When updating a SharePoint list item using a CAML query, the date/time field must be in the correct format or the field in the SharePoint list item will not be updated. Any XML elements in the CAML template after the element containing the incorrectly formatted date/time value will not have an affect on the SharePoint list item either.