Creating InfoPath Form Templates That Work With InfoPath Forms Services

Applies to: InfoPath 2010 | InfoPath Forms Services | Office 2010 | SharePoint Server 2010 | Visual Studio | Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Office

In this article
Features Supported by Both InfoPath and InfoPath Forms Services
Features Not Supported by InfoPath Forms Services
Object Model Members that Work in Both InfoPath and InfoPath Forms Services
Object Model Members that Work Only in InfoPath

Browser-compatible forms deployed to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 with InfoPath Forms Services support features and controls that cover the majority of InfoPath form usage scenarios. However, browser-compatible forms delivered by InfoPath Forms Services do not support all InfoPath features. Some features and controls are not implemented on the server. Other features do not have a meaningful representation on the server.

The sections that follow specify which features are supported in browser-compatible forms, which features cannot be used in browser-compatible forms, and which features can be specified for browser-compatible forms, but will not function in a Web browser.

Features Supported by Both InfoPath and InfoPath Forms Services

The following sections list the features that are supported by browser-compatible form templates deployed to InfoPath Forms Services that can open in both InfoPath and the browser.

Controls

The following controls are supported in form templates that can be opened both InfoPath and the browser.

• Text Box

• Rich Text Box (only editable in Microsoft Internet Explorer)

• Drop-Down List Box

• List Box

• Date Picker (Rendered as a text box on browsers other than Internet Explorer)

• Check Box

• Option Button

• Button

• Section

• Optional Section

• Repeating Section

• Repeating Table

• File Attachment

• Hyperlink

• Expression Box

• Combo Box

• Multiple-Selection List Box

• Bulleted List

• Numbered List

• Plain List

• Picture

• Choice Group

• Choice Section

• People/Group Picker

• External Item Picker

• Picture Button

• Calculated Value

Declarative Features

Other declarative features that work in both InfoPath and the browser:

• Rules

• Calculations

• Validation

Code

Business logic code must be based on the InfoPath managed code object model provided by the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace. Business logic code running on the server is subject to the following restrictions:

• Because each server request may be handled by a different front end and because InfoPath Forms Services will load only one instance of the business logic, programmers cannot rely on data stored in global or static variables. To accommodate this, business logic must store state into a property bag, access to which is provided by the FormState property.

• A subset of the members of the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace provide features, such as Information Rights Management (IRM), that are not supported on the server. For more information on which object model members are and are not supported, see the "Object Model Members that Work in InfoPath and InfoPath Forms Services" and "Object Model Members that Work Only in InfoPath" sections later in this topic.

• Business logic written in VBScript, JScript, and the InfoPath 2003-compatible object model provided by members of the Microsoft.Office.Interop.InfoPath.SemiTrust namespace is not supported on the server.

Features Not Supported by InfoPath Forms Services

The following sections list the features that are not supported by browser-compatible form templates deployed to InfoPath Forms Services that can open in both InfoPath and the browser.

When using the Design Checker feature in InfoPath design mode to confirm compatibility with InfoPath Forms Services, features that are not supported will produce either errors or messages. Features that produce errors will prevent the form template from being published as a browser-enabled form. Features that produce messages are allowed, but that particular feature will not run when the form is opened in a browser.

Controls

The following controls and control features are not supported in form templates that can be opened both InfoPath and the browser.

• Filters on repeating controls

• Master/Detail

• Vertical Label

• Horizontal Repeating Table

• Ink Picture

• Repeating Recursive Section

Other Features That are Not Supported or Not Fully Supported by InfoPath Forms Services

Other features that are not supported on InfoPath Forms Services:

• ActiveX Controls

• HTML Taskpanes

• Placeholder text in controls. For example, "Click here to enter text" (no text is shown in the browser)

• Database data connections are limited to read-only access to SQL server databases

• User roles

• Digital signature extensibility through the object model. Digitally signing on the server is supported through an ActiveX control which runs only in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

• Human Workflow Services (HWS) integration. HWS has been deprecated by BizTalk server

• XML Schema error message overrides. This is a rarely used feature which allows the form designer to provide a different message than the one provided by MSXML or System.Xml when a document doesn't validate (generally because of a type mismatch). This feature is not supported in the designer user interface and requires hand editing of the form definition (.xsf) file.

Features with No Direct Parallel on the InfoPath Forms Services

Other features that are not supported on InfoPath Forms Services:

• Pop-up dialogs during modeless validation

• Outlook Integration

• COM Add-Ins

• Merge Forms

• Auto-Save, Crash Detection and Recovery

• Mail Envelope

• Export to Excel

• Tablet / Ink Features including Ink Picture control

• Undo / Redo

• Information Rights Management (IRM)

• Modal dialogs from business logic

• XSLT extensibility (xd:preserve blocks)

• External automation

• Offline query caching

• Spell-checking

• Restricted security mode

Object Model Members that Work in Both InfoPath and InfoPath Forms Services

InfoPath provides a new managed-code object model with a core set of functionality for creating custom business logic in form templates. When deployed to SharePoint Server 2010 with InfoPath Forms Services, business logic created using this new object model will run in both a Web browser and in InfoPath. Optionally, you can write business logic that uses an additional level of functionality available from this object model that will run only in form templates opened for editing in InfoPath 2010.

To write business logic that will run when a form is opened in both a Web browser and in InfoPath, select the Enable browser-compatible features only check box on the Design a Form Template dialog box when creating a new form template. To write business logic that can use additional functionality only when opened in InfoPath, clear the Enable browser-compatible features only check box when creating a new form template. You can also change this setting after creating a form template, by clicking Change Compatibility Settings on the Design Checker task pane, and then selecting or clearing the Design a form template that can be opened in a browser or InfoPath check box. If you choose to create a browser-compatible form template, the compiler will display an error if you have used any classes or members that are not compatible with InfoPath Forms Services.

The following classes and members of the InfoPath managed code object model provided by the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace are supported in both InfoPath and InfoPath Forms Services.

Object Model Members that Work Only in InfoPath

The following classes and members of the InfoPath managed code object model provided by the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace are supported only in InfoPath 2010.