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Resources for learning InfoPath
| Applies to |
|---|
| Microsoft Office InfoPath™ 2003 Service Pack 1 or later
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Are you interested in improving your form-design skills or expanding your general knowledge of InfoPath? This article lists Help files, Web sites, and other resources that can help you accomplish these goals.
Resources for everyone One of the best ways to learn InfoPath is to open the program and try using the various features. However, if you want to learn about InfoPath in a more focused way, or if you just need a little help getting started, you can refer to the materials in the first part of this article.
Resources for advanced users If you've mastered the basics of InfoPath, you can skip to the last half of this article to find materials appropriate for more advanced users. For example, if you use script in your forms, you can refer to Microsoft Script Editor (MSE) (Microsoft Script Editor (MSE): A programming environment used to create, edit, and debug Microsoft JScript or Microsoft VBScript code in an InfoPath form.) Help for information about creating, editing, and debugging script.
Resources for everyone
The following table lists general resources for getting assistance with InfoPath or learning more on your own.
| Resource |
Description |
|---|
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InfoPath Help
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A complete Help system that includes conceptual and reference information, as well as step-by-step procedures.
 Open InfoPath Help
- On the Help menu, click Microsoft Office InfoPath Help.
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InfoPath product tour
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An animated overview of InfoPath that introduces key concepts and product features.
Take the product tour - On the Help menu, click Microsoft Office InfoPath Tour.
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InfoPath sample forms
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A set of 25 predesigned business forms, including an expense report form, a status report form, and an issue tracking form. The sample forms are a great way to learn by example and get ideas for your own forms. For instance, you can open the Expense Report sample form in design mode (design mode: The InfoPath design environment in which you can create or modify a form template.)
to better understand how a repeating table (repeating table: A control on a form that contains other controls in a table format and that repeats as needed. Users can insert multiple rows when filling out the form.)
works.
Open a sample form in design mode - On the File menu, click Fill Out a Form.
- In the Fill Out a Form
dialog box, under Form categories, click Sample Forms.
- Click a sample form, and then under Form tasks, click Design this Form.
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InfoPath discussion groups
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Online discussion groups (also known as newsgroups) where you can interact with other InfoPath users, get your questions answered, share ideas, and learn more about InfoPath.
Open discussion groups from within InfoPath - Press F1.
- In the InfoPath Help task pane, click Communities.
Note This option is available only if you're connected to the Internet.
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InfoPath training on Office Online
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A series of short, self-paced training courses on Microsoft Office Online. These courses include practice sessions so that you can get hands-on experience with InfoPath.
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InfoPath home page on Office Online
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Up-to-date information on Office Online, including how-to articles, columns, and tips for using InfoPath.
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Resources for advanced users
In addition to the general resources described in the previous section, InfoPath offers advanced resources for developers and other technical users, including those who are familiar with scripting languages, Extensible Markup Language (XML) (Extensible Markup Language (XML): A condensed form of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) that enables developers to create customized tags that offer flexibility in organizing and presenting information.), and other development tools and technologies. The following table lists these advanced resources.
| Resource |
Description |
|---|
|
InfoPath Developer's Reference
|
A complete Help system for developers that includes:
- Conceptual information about programming InfoPath, including the object model and form definition (.xsf) file (form definition file: An XML file with an .xsf extension that contains information about all other files and components used within a form, including user interface customizations, XML Schemas, views, business logic, events, and deployment settings.).
- Documentation for the four developer sample forms that come with InfoPath. These forms demonstrate some of the key features of form development.
- Documentation for the InfoPath object model, including all of its collections, objects, properties, methods, events, and enumerations.
- Documentation for the .xsf file, including all of its namespaces, groups, types, elements, and attributes.
Open the InfoPath Developer's Reference - On the Help menu, click Microsoft Office InfoPath Help.
- In the InfoPath Help task pane, click Table of Contents.
- In the table of contents, click InfoPath Developer's Reference.
Tip When you write script for an InfoPath form by using Microsoft Script Editor (MSE), you can also open the InfoPath Developer's Reference as well as the documentation for Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) 5.0.
The latter contains information about programming the XML Document Object Model (DOM), creating XML Path Language (XPath) (XML Path Language (XPath): A language used to address parts of an XML document. XPath also provides basic facilities for manipulation of strings, numbers, and Booleans.) expressions, and working with XML Schemas (XML Schema: A formal specification, written in XML, that defines the structure of an XML document, including element names and rich data types, which elements can appear in combination, and which attributes are available for each element.).
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Developer sample forms
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Several sample forms that are installed on your hard disk when you install InfoPath,
which demonstrate various techniques for developing and designing forms. For example, the User Interface sample form helps you to understand how menus, toolbars, task panes, and other aspects of the user interface can be customized in a form.
Find the developer sample forms - In the Design a Form task pane, under Open a form in design mode, click On My Computer.
- In the Open in Design Mode dialog box, browse to the following location:
<drive:>\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\SAMPLES\INFOPATH\
- Select the sample form that you want to open.
Find documentation for the developer sample forms - On the Help menu, click Microsoft Office InfoPath Help.
- In the InfoPath Help task pane, click Table of Contents.
- In the table of contents, click InfoPath Developer's Reference, and then click Developer Sample Forms.
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Microsoft Script Editor (MSE) Help
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A set of topics related to adding and debugging scripting code in forms. MSE Help also includes comprehensive reference material for Microsoft JScript (JScript: An interpreted, object-based scripting language that borrows from C, C++, and Java. It is the Microsoft implementation of the ECMA 262 language specification.) and Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) (Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript): An interpreted, object-based scripting language that is a subset of the Microsoft Visual Basic programming language.), which are supported by InfoPath.
Open MSE Help - In design mode, press ALT+SHIFT+F11.
-
In MSE, press F1.
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| InfoPath home page on MSDN |
Up-to-date information on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), including white papers, sample forms, articles, and general information about developing InfoPath forms. Also includes tools such as the Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET, which you can use to create InfoPath projects by using managed code.
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| InfoPath 2003 Training on MSDN |
Training labs that teach you how to design and deploy XML-based forms in InfoPath.
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InfoPath Software Development Kit (SDK) on MSDN
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A software development kit that includes the following:
- Developer sample forms that demonstrate development techniques for customizing and implementing InfoPath features and, in some cases, integrating InfoPath with a back-end server or process.
- Documentation for the developer sample forms included with the SDK, technical articles, and the InfoPath Developer's Reference.
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InfoPath team Web log (blog) on MSDN
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A frequently
updated journal written by members of the InfoPath product development team.
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The following table lists MSDN Web sites that contain comprehensive information about development platforms and tools related to InfoPath.
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