Lab 6: Using InfoPath 2007 E-mail Forms

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Learn how to use InfoPath e-mail forms to deploy, collect, and analyze information. You will also learn how to use property promotion to group and sort information in Outlook folders, and how to use form information for more detailed analysis. (5 printed pages)

February 2007

**Applies to:**Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007

Contents

  • Lab Objectives

  • Lab Setup and Requirements

  • Scenario

  • Exercises

  • Conclusion

  • Additional Resources

Download: InfoPath 2007 Sample: Training Labs.

Lab Objectives

In this lab, you will learn how to perform the following tasks:

  • Deploy a form from Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 as an e-mail form.

  • Complete a form that is sent to your e-mail Inbox.

  • Submit the form to the IT department.

  • Create a form folder in Outlook and move the form to the new folder.

  • Enable property promotion on the folder.

  • Create and submit a new form.

  • Export the form to Microsoft Office Excel for analysis.

Lab Setup and Requirements

To complete this lab, you must have the following Office applications installed:

  • Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007

  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

  • Microsoft Office Excel 2007

Outlook should be set up to run in cached mode against a Microsoft Exchange server or with a local Personal Folders File (.pst).

Scenario

The IT department at Contoso Corporation has been asked to update the asset inventory. To ensure compliance, all personnel are required to report their current corporate computer assets back to the IT department for auditing and tracking purposes. You will use InfoPath e-mail forms for simple data collection.

Exercises

Deploying a Form from InfoPath as an E-mail Form

In the following exercises, you will deploy an Asset Tracking form via e-mail.

To design the form template

  1. Start InfoPath.

  2. In the Getting Started dialog box, click Design a Form Template.

  3. In the Design a Form Template dialog box, click On My Computer.

  4. Select AssetTracking.xsn in the C:\2007 Office System Developer Resources\Code Samples\InfoPath2007SampleTrainingLabs folder, and then click OK.

To publish the form template

  1. Click Publish Form Template in the Design Tasks task pane.

  2. In the Publishing Wizard, click To a list of e-mail recipients, and click Next.

  3. Click Next.

  4. Click Add.

  5. Under the assets group, expand asset, and then select make.

  6. Select merge in the Function drop-down list.

  7. Click OK.

  8. Repeat steps 8 through 11 to add the model, serialNumber, and category fields.

    Figure 1 shows the completed Column list.

    Figure 1. Promoting columns

    Promoting Fields from the Asset Tracking form

  9. Click Next.

  10. Click Publish.

  11. In the To line, type the recipient's e-mail address. For this exercise, use your e-mail address.

  12. Click Send.

  13. On the File menu, click Exit InfoPath.

To open and complete a form sent to your Inbox

  1. Start Office Outlook 2007.

  2. In the Inbox, select the item with the subject InfoPath form: AssetTracking.

  3. In the reading pane, click Open form at the top of the message.

  4. Click Yes when prompted with the Microsoft Office InfoPath Security Notice.

  5. Type the following information in the form:

    Company: Contoso

    Department: Research

    Make: Toshiba

    Model: Portege M200

    Serial Number: 728384

    Owner: Mindy Martin

    Asset Category: Computer Hardware

    Location: H3442

  6. On the File menu, click Save.

  7. On the File menu, click Close.

  8. In the InfoPath Form Folders dialog box, click Close.

NoteNote

You can click Create Form Folder in the Infopath Form Folders dialog box, as shown in Figure 2. This will automatically perform the steps in the exercises "To create a form folder and move the form to it" and "To enable property promotion on the InfoPath form folder to display items from each form in the message list" located later in this section.

Figure 2. Creating a form folder in Outlook

The InfoPath Form Folders dialog box

To submit the form to the IT department

  1. In the Inbox, select the item with the subject, InfoPath form: AssetTracking.

  2. In the reading pane, click Open form.

  3. In the toolbar, click Submit.

  4. Click Send, and then click OK.

  5. On the File menu, click Save.

  6. On the File menu, click Close.

The following exercises are automatically performed when you click Create Form Folder in the InfoPath Form Folders dialog box.

To create a form folder and move the form to it

  1. In Outlook, on the File menu, select New, and then click Folder.

  2. In the Create New Folder dialog box, type Asset Tracking in the Name field.

  3. In the Folder contains drop-down list, select InfoPath Form Items, as shown in Figure 3.

    Figure 3. Creating a new folder in Outlook

    Create a New Folder in Outlook

  4. Click OK.

  5. In the Inbox, select the item with the subject InfoPath form: AssetTracking.

  6. Drag the item to the Asset Tracking folder.

To display items from each form in the message list

  1. Right-click the Asset Tracking folder in Outlook, and click Promote Form Properties.

  2. In the Asset Tracking Properties dialog box, click Select Form, as shown in Figure 4.

    Figure 4. Selecting a form in the Asset Tracking Properties dialog box

    The Asset Tracking Folder Properties

  3. In the Choose InfoPath Form dialog box, select the AssetTracking form, and click Select form.

  4. Select the Promote form properties and Display the data as columns in a new view check box.

    NoteNote

    If the check box is disabled, you are not using Outlook in cached Exchange mode or with a local Personal Folders File (.pst), and properties cannot be promoted.

  5. Click OK.

To create and submit a new form

  1. On the File menu, select New, and then click Choose InfoPath Form near the bottom of the menu.

  2. In the Choose InfoPath Form dialog box, select the AssetTracking form from the Recently Used Forms category, and then click Open form.

  3. Fill in the following information in the form:

    Company: Contoso

    Department: Research

    Make: Compaq

    Model: Evo D500DT

    Serial Number: 567821

    Owner: Soumya Singhi

    Category: Computer Hardware

    Location: H1803

  4. On the toolbar, click Submit.

  5. Complete the recipient information.

  6. Click Send, and then click OK.

  7. On the File menu, click Save.

  8. In the Save dialog box, enter a name for the form, and then click OK.

  9. On the File menu, click Close.

To export the form to Excel for analysis

  1. In the Asset Tracking folder, select both forms by holding the CTRL key and clicking both forms.

  2. In Outlook, on the Actions menu, click Export Forms to Excel.

Conclusion

In these exercises you learned how to deploy and complete InfoPath e-mail forms. You also learned how to take advantage of the InfoPath form folder capabilities in Outlook to promote data and analyze data from the forms. By using these concepts, you can make rich use of InfoPath forms through e-mail and also offline.

In Lab 7: Restricting Permissions to InfoPath 2007 Forms and Form Templates, you learn how to restrict permissions to a form and a form template by applying user rights.

Additional Resources

For more information about developing with InfoPath, see the following resources: