Publish a form template to a server running infopath forms services

Before your users can fill out a form that is based on a browser-compatible form template in a Web browser, you must publish your form template to a server that is running InfoPath Forms Services and then browser-enable the form template.

In this article

• Overview

• Before you begin

• Publish the form template to a new document library

• Publish a form template as a site content type

• Publish the form template that requires administrator approval

Overview

You can publish a browser-compatible form template to a server that is running InfoPath Forms Services to allow users to fill out forms based on this form template in a Web browser. If your form template will be used in the following scenarios, you will need administrator approval to publish it:

• The form template contains managed code or script.

  Note: Script will have to be converted to managed code before the form template can be published.

• The form template requires a Full Trust security level, which allows the resulting forms to have full access to the system resources on users' computers, such as files and settings.

• The form template uses a data connection that is managed by an administrator.

• The form template is enabled to be displayed on a mobile device.

To publish a form template that requires administrator approval, you must first publish your form template to a shared network folder, where the server administrator can upload the form template to the server running InfoPath Forms Services, and then deploy the form template. Find links to more information about how the server administrator can deploy a form template in the See Also section.

If your form template will be used in other scenarios, you can publish it either to a document library or as a site content type.

When your form template is published to a server that is running InfoPath Forms Services, it can be used in the following ways:

• As a template for all forms in a new or existing document library     You can publish a form template that will be used as a template for all of the forms in a new or existing document library. The form template can be digitally signed but must not contain any script or managed code.

• As a site content type for multiple document libraries or a site collection     You can publish a form template that will be used as a template for the forms in multiple document libraries or a site collection. You can publish a form template as a site content type if multiple libraries in a site collection will use this form template. However, you cannot publish a form template as a site content type if it contains any script or managed code. Form templates with script or managed code must first be published to a shared network folder. Then the administrator can upload the form templates to the server and deploy them.

Before you publish a browser-compatible form template, use the Design Checker to check your form template form problems. After finding and fixing any problems with the form template, you can use the Publishing Wizard to publish the form template to a server running InfoPath Forms Services.

Publishing a form template is not the same as saving a form template. When you publish a form template, the Publishing Wizard adds the publish location and processing instructions to the form template so that users can open forms that are based on this form template. When you save a form template, you are saving a copy of the form template, just as you do when you save a file to your computer. You should always use the Publishing Wizard when you want to make your form template available for your users to fill out.

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Before you begin

Before you publish a browser-compatible form template to a server that is running InfoPath Forms Services, do the following:

• Verify with your administrator that you have the necessary permissions on the server to publish your form template to a document library or to publish your form template as a new site content type.

• Verify with your administrator that Office InfoPath 2007 is running on the server and that it is configured to display InfoPath forms as Web pages.

• If you are publishing a browser-compatible form template that requires administrator approval, ask your administrator for the location of the shared network folder where you should save your form template. This folder is where you will publish the form template. After you publish the form template, the administrator will upload the form template from this location to the server.

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Publish the form template to a new document library

When you publish a form template to a document library, every form that is created in that library will be based on the same form template. You can use the Publishing Wizard to publish a form template to a document library. The Publishing Wizard modifies the form template for use in a document library, creates the new document library, and then saves the form template as the default form template for that document library. After you publish the form template, you must configure the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services site to display forms that are based on this form template in a Web browser. If you do not configure the SharePoint site, users who do not have Office InfoPath 2007 installed on their computers will get an error when they try to open a form that is based on this form template.

1. On the File menu, click Save.

2. In the Save As dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save the form template, and then click Save.

3. To open the Design Checker task pane, click Design Checker on the Tools menu.

4. If there are errors listed the Design Checker task pane, fix those errors, and then click Refresh to determine whether the errors still exist.

5. On the File menu, click Publish.

6. In the Publishing Wizard, click To a SharePoint server with or without InfoPath Forms Services, and then click Next.

7. On the next page of the wizard, in the Enter the location of your SharePoint or InfoPath Forms Services site box, type the location of the SharePoint site where you want to publish your form template, and then click Next.

8. On the next page of the wizard, select the Enable this form to be filled out by using a browser check box, click Document Library, and then click Next.

9. Click Create a new document library, and then click Next.

10. On the next page of the wizard, type a name and description for the document library, and then click Next.

11. Choose the fields in the form template that you want to appear as columns in the default view of the document library.

    How?

    1. Click Add.

    2. Select the field that you want to add as a column in the document library, and then do one of the following:

       • Type a name for the column in the Column name box.

       • Select the site column in the Site column group list, select a name in the Column name list, and then click OK.

         Note: If you selected a repeating field to display data in the document library, you can define how you want to display the field in the document library by clicking a value in the Function list. You can choose whether to display the first value in the field, the last value in the field, or a count of all of the occurrences of the field, or whether to merge all of the values together.

    3. Click OK.

    Find links to more information about displaying data in columns in a document library in the See also section.

12. Click Next.

13. On the next page of the wizard, verify that the information shown is correct, and then click Publish.

14. To determine whether you published the form template, click Open this document library. If you published the form template, your Web browser will open with a form that is based on the form template.

15. Configure the SharePoint site to display forms that are based on this form template in a Web browser.

    How?

    1. Open the SharePoint site in a Web browser.

    2. On the Site Actions menu in the upper-right corner of the site, click Site Settings, and then click Modify All Site Settings.

    3. Under Site Administration, click Site libraries and lists.

    4. Click Customize site name.

    5. Under General Settings, click Advanced settings.

    6. In Browser-enabled Documents, click Display as a Web page, and then click OK.

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Publish a form template as a site content type

When you publish a form template as a site content type, the Publishing Wizard modifies the form template for use as a site content type. Just as you do when creating a new document library, you can convert your form template into a browser-enabled form template in the Publishing Wizard. The wizard then save the form template to the server as a site content type.

1. On the File menu, click Save.

2. In the Save As dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save the form template, and then click Save.

3. To open the Design Checker task pane, click Design Checker on the Tools menu.

4. If there are errors listed the Design Checker task pane, fix those errors, and then click Refresh to determine whether the errors still exist.

5. On the File menu, click Publish.

6. In the Publishing Wizard, click To a SharePoint server with or without InfoPath Forms Services, and then click Next.

7. On the next page of the wizard, in the Enter the location of your SharePoint or InfoPath Forms Services site box, type the location of the SharePoint site where you want to publish your form template, and then click Next.

8. On the next page of the wizard, select the Enable this form to be filled out by using a browser check box, click Site Content Type (advanced), and then click Next.

9. On the next page of the wizard, click Create a new content type.

10. In the Base the content type on list, click Form and then click Next.

11. On the next page of the wizard, type a name and description for this new content type, and then click Next.

12. On the next page of the wizard, in the Specify a location and file name for the form template box, type the location of the SharePoint site, and then click Browse.

13. In the Browse dialog box, browse to the location on the server where you want to publish the form template as a site content type, and then in the File name box, type the name of the form template and click Save.

14. Click Next.

15. Choose the fields in the form template that you want to appear as columns in the default view of the document library.

    How?

    1. Click Add.

    2. Select the field that you want to add as a column in the document library, and then do one of the following:

       • Type a name for the column in the Column name box.

       • Select the site column in the Site column group list, select a name in the Column name list, and then click OK.

         Note: If you selected a repeating field to display data in the document library, you can define how you want to display the field in the document library by clicking a value in the Function list. You can choose whether to display the first value in the field, the last value in the field, or a count of all of the occurrences of the field, or whether to merge all of the values together.

    3. Click OK.

    Find links to more information about displaying data in columns in a document library in the See also section.

16. Click Next.

17. On the next page of the wizard, verify that the information shown is correct, and then click Publish.

18. Click Close, and then verify that your form template is a content type on the SharePoint site.

    How?

    1. Open the SharePoint site in a Web browser.

    2. On the Site Actions menu in the upper-right corner of the site, click Site Settings.

    3. In Site Settings, under Galleries, click Site content types.

       Your form template should be listed under InfoPath Content Types in the Site Content Type Gallery.

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Publish the form template that requires administrator approval

The following scenarios require administrator approval to publish a form template to a server that is running InfoPath Forms Services:

• The form template contains managed code.

  Note: Script will have to be converted to managed code before the form template can be published.

• The form template requires a Full Trust security level, which allows the resulting forms to have full access to the system resources on users' computers, such as files and settings.

• The form template uses a data connection that is managed by an administrator.

• The form template is enabled to be displayed on a mobile device.

To publish a form template that requires administrator approval, you must first publish your form template to a shared network folder, where the server administrator can upload the form template to the server running InfoPath Forms Services, and then deploy the form template. Find links to more information about how the server administrator can deploy a form template in the See Also section.

1. On the File menu, click Save.

2. In the Save As dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save the form template, and then click Save.

3. To open the Design Checker task pane, click Design Checker on the Tools menu.

4. If there are errors listed the Design Checker task pane, fix those errors, and then click Refresh to determine whether the errors still exist.

5. On the File menu, click Publish.

6. In the Publishing Wizard, click To a SharePoint server with or without InfoPath Forms Services, and then click Next.

7. On the next page of the wizard, in the Enter the location of your SharePoint or InfoPath Forms Services site box, type the location of the SharePoint site where you want to publish your form template, and then click Next.

8. On the next page of the wizard, select the Browser-enable this form template check box, click Form Template for Administrator-Approval (Advanced), and then click Next.

9. On the next page of the wizard, in the Specify a location and file name for the form template box, click Browse.

10. In the Browse dialog box, browse to the location of the shared network folder, and then in the File name box, type the name of the form template and click Save.

11. Click Next.

12. Choose the fields in the form template that you want to appear as columns in the default view of the document library.

    How?

    1. Click Add.

    2. Select the field that you want to add as a column in the document library, and then do one of the following:

       • Type a name for the column in the Column name box.

       • Select the site column in the Site column group list, select a name in the Column name list, and then click OK.

         Note: If you selected a repeating field to display data in the document library, you can define how you want to display the field in the document library by clicking a value in the Function list. You can choose whether to display the first value in the field, the last value in the field, or a count of all of the occurrences of the field, or whether to merge all of the values together.

    3. Click OK.

    Find links to more information about displaying data in columns in a document library in the See also section.

13. Click Next.

14. On the next page of the wizard, verify that the information shown is correct, and then click Publish.

After publishing the form template, ask your server administrator to upload the form template to the server, and then activate the form template to a site collection. For more information about uploading and deploying a form template to a server running InfoPath Forms Services, click the link in the See Also section about deploying form templates that contain code.

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