Pre requisites
- A server running Moss 2007 (Enterprise license)
- Visual Studio 2005
- Infopath extensions for Visual Studio 2005
Sharepoint configuration
- Ensure that you have activated the Enterprise license
- Ensure that you have activated the Forms server feature
- Ensure that the forms library is available in the site where you wish to publish infopath forms.
If the site you intend to publish your forms at is a publishing site, the option to create a forms library will not exist, in which case you have to activate a feature to have access to the forms library.
Ensure that the following features are enabled (on the site and the site collection):
- Office SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features
- Team Collaboration Lists
- Office SharePoint Server Standard Site features
Create a library to hold the Data Connection files
If this library type is not visible in Sharepoint for you, you need to enable enterprise feature on the portal and in the site. Jot down the address to the library you just created, you will need it later.
The data connection file is a configuration file that tells Sharepoint how and with whom an Infopath form is allowed to communicate with, when its running in Forms Server. You can have Infopath client create them automatically, and put them in the data connection library. If you use the Infopath client to automatically create the files and put them in the library, the client will automatically reference the Data connection files in the library. If you manually create the data connection files, you need to update the forms to reference the new data connection file. The data connection files are used for submitting forms, loading forms, and loading data via web services into drop down menus or other dynamic content.
Create a forms library
This will be the library where you want to create the forms.
At this point Sharepoint should be ready to host the forms and the configuration files required to get an Infopath up and running.