InfoPath - List Forms versus Form Libraries (Offline Access)

Recently spending a lot of time dealing with forms and workspaces in SharePoint 2010. If you require offline access here is a summary.

·         SharePoint list Form

o   Store data directly in a SharePoint list

o   SharePoint list forms are directly connected to one SharePoint list

o   Works well offline with SharePoint Workspace

·         Form library Form

o   Stores data in XML files in a SharePoint form library

o   Allows for more flexible functionality including code behind

o   Ability to choose the publish location and ability to publish to multiple locations

o   Not supported in SharePoint Workspace

o   Offline ability with users however would require manually steps to upload to SharePoint or custom app to handle upload

·         Common InfoPath form requirements:

o   Ease of Use for users

o   Ability to fill out multiple forms offline

o   Automatically sync to SharePoint when online

o   Repeating data on each form (Example: mutiple vacation requests)

o   Ability to change form and publish to another list in SharePoint to capture new data

·         Solution A: SharePoint List Form

o   Pros:

§  Ease of Use for users

§  Ability to fill out multiple forms offline

§  Automatically sync to SharePoint when online: This accommodates the ability to fill out the forms offline and using SharePoint Workspace sync easily

o   Cons with Solutions:

§  Repeating data on each form: You cannot include code to fill out data based on a drop down field. However we would suggest including a dropdown that is a look up to another list.

§  Ability to change form and publish to another list in SharePoint to capture new data: When a new field is required and the ability to push data to a new list is needed – we suggest saving the current list as a template (which will include the customized form) and modify the new form and republish to a new list.

·         Solution B: Forms Library Form

o   Pros:

§  Ease of Use for users

§  Ability to fill out multiple forms offline: This requires InfoPath filler on the client machine.

§  Repeating data on each form: We can use code behind to populate the data based on master list data.

§  Ability to change form and publish to another list in SharePoint to capture new data: The same form template could be updated with new fields and republished to another library easily.

o   Cons with Solutions:

§  Automatically sync to SharePoint when online: There is not an automatic way for the offline forms to be synced with SharePoint. The user can upload the forms into the forms library or a custom solution can be built.