How to: Work with Information Rights Management Settings

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

There are two types of Information Rights Management (IRM) settings available in Microsoft InfoPath 2010: one for protecting access to InfoPath form templates, and one for controlling access to and actions on form data contained in completed forms.

Adding the Manage Credentials Command to the Quick Access Toolbar

The Manage Credentials command used to work with IRM settings when designing a form template is not available by default. Use the following steps to add it to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Add the Manage Credentials Command to the Quick Access Toolbar

1. Click the arrow on the right end of the Quick Access Toolbar to pull down the Customize Quick Access Toolbar menu, and then click More Commands.

2. In the Choose commands from list, select All Commands.

3. Scroll down the list to Manage Credentials, and then click Add.

4. Click OK.

For more information about using Manage Credentials command and the Permission dialog box in InfoPath, see the "Create a Form Template with Restricted Permission" topic in InfoPath help.

The IRM Object Model

Use the Permission class to access the UserPermissionCollection and IRM permission settings that can be applied to a form. To access the Permission object associated with a form template, use the Permission property of the XmlForm class. The returned Permission object provides access to the collection of UserPermission objects associated with the form template and each form instance created with that template.

The Permission object and its properties and methods are available whether permissions are restricted on the active form template or not. Use the Enabled property to determine whether a form has restricted permissions.

Permissions on a form are enabled in one of the following ways by using properties and methods of the Permission class:

The Enabled property is set to true.

The DocumentAuthor property is set.

The RequestPermissionUrl property is set.

The StoreLicenses property is set to true or false.

The ApplyPolicy method is called.

To work programmatically with IRM settings of individual users in forms, use the UserPermissionCollection and UserPermission classes.

A UserPermission object associates a set of permissions for the current form with a single user and an optional expiration date. Use the Add method of the UserPermissionCollection class to add and grant a user a set of permissions on the current form. Use the Remove method of the UserPermissionCollection class to remove a user and the user's permissions. While some permissions granted through the user interface apply to all users, such as printing and expiration date, you can use the UserPermission and UserPermissionCollection classes to assign them on a per-user basis with per-user expiration dates. The object model allows developers to enumerate permission settings in a form and to provide functionality that allows form users to add permissions to the form without having to use the Form Permission task pane or the Permission dialog box.

Overview of the Permission Class

The UserPermissionCollection class provides the following properties and one method.

Overview of the UserPermissionCollection Class

The UserPermissionCollection class provides the following properties and methods.

Overview of the UserPermission Class

The UserPermission class provides the following properties and one method.

The PermissionType Enumeration

A user's permissions are set or read using PermissionType enumeration values.

Example

In the following example, clicking the Button control gets the UserPermissionsCollection for the current form, adds and assigns a user to the Change access level, and sets an expiration date of two days from the current date.

public void CTRL1_Clicked(object sender, ClickedEventArgs e)
{
   string strExpirationDate = DateTime.Today.AddDays(2).ToString();
   DateTime dtExpirationDate = DateTime.Parse(strExpirationDate);

   this.Permission.UserPermissions.Add("someone@example.com", 
      PermissionType.Change, dtExpirationDate);
}

Public Sub CTRL1_Clicked(ByVal sender As Object, _
   ByVal e As ClickedEventArgs)
   Dim strExpirationDate As String = _
      DateTime.Today.AddDays(2).ToString()
   dtExpirationDate As DateTime = DateTime.Parse(strExpirationDate)

   Me.Permission.UserPermissions.Add("someone@example.com", _
      PermissionType.Change, dtExpirationDate)
End Sub