Recovered: InfoPath Entries
Here's what I've been able to recover from some of my previous InfoPath entries that got ate in the crash:
More Frustration with the InfoPath Form Server
When I go to remove a form from the Manage Form Templates page, it shows as Deleting in the status column. And it never goes away.
I restart the timer service.
I run the stsadm.exe -o removeformtemplate
I reboot the server.
nothing.
But at least I can still work on other forms. On this other guys server, everytime he tries to manage a form, he gets that "An item with a duplicate key has already been entered" error.
–robot
InfoPath Form Server Form Deletion
We have the InfoPath Form Server version of SharePoint v3 running on a single server and we're trying to delete a form from the Manage Form Templates page in Application Management.
When we hover and select Delete it give us a SharePoint error page that says:
An item with the same key has already been added.
I've got no idea what's going on here but, in the past, when we've had trouble with form templates, the template would indicate Deleting and never change and never go away. We could run stsadm.exe -o execsvcjobs and the form would disappear.
This led me to believe it had something to do with some job service but I've never been able to figure out where or how to access any of that. I find the Timer Job Definitions and the Time Job Status but I'be never been able to find anything that would idicate that a job is configured or runs that is intended to delete those form templates.
I got some help from the Yahoo Group that suggested the STSADM commands for forms were a little simpler that using the interface. Those two command would be:
stsadm -o verifyformtemplate -filename "C:MyForm.xsn"
stsadm -o uploadformtemplate -filename C:MyForm.xsn.
So that would be cool except that I was getting the command line error when I tried to enter that value. So I started looking for the STSADM help and I found some STSADM help here but it may be WSS v2.:
Then, our friend Todd related his experience with the OWSTIMER.EXE going crazy. That seems like what I may have been looking at although we've rolled the server back and rebuilt it and the issue has not reappeared.
Now while STSADM might be an option for installing the form, I'm not sure where I get the overwrite, quiesce or extend functionality.
–robot
Upload, Activate, Deactivate, Remove Form Templates
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I get the stsadm command for uploading form templates goes like this: C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft Sharedweb server extensions12BINstsadm.exe -o uploadformtemplate -filename C:MyFolderMyForm.xsn But the -help activateformtemplate says this:
so we can go with formid or we can go with path and filename. Next, the formid is exposed when you view the form properties by hovering over the form on the Manage Form Templates and clicking on View Properties. Of course, when we use stsadm.exe to upload the form, we have no way of knowing what the formid is. Which brings us to -filename. Can we activate using a path and filename to a site collection and have it still be the same form that's uploaded to the Manage Form form library? I would guess not but I would also guess that there's doggone few people that know for sure so let's add to that count. Yes, this is odd. But, if you look at the form template properties in InfoPath designer, you'll see that it knows its form ID and, obviously shares that knowledge with the form template that's loaded into the form server. That lets us use the -filename parameter just the same. So your "No GUI" form management routine goes like this: Verify:
Upload:
Activate:
Deactivate:
Remove:
Remember, uploading and removing waits for the SharePoint Timer so make it work right now using:
So you, me and all that we can tell now know that managing form templates is now a batch file. –robot
The Timer Service
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An Item with the Same Key has Already been Added.
I saw this post:
I get this error in SharePoint Central Administration trying to remove forms from InfoPath Form Server.
I get it from a command line running stsadm.exe -o removeformtemplate -formid MyformID
Once I get it, I get it anytime I click OK in central admin.
This ends up with the server pretty much a total loss.
–robot
InfoPath 2007 Form Options for Browser-Enabled Forms.
Okay, InfoPath forms are really kind of cool.
I'm just using the Status Report template that installs with the Office 12 version and I'm running it on a browser.
Tools | Design this Form will take the form into design mode.
Tools | Form Options is a multi-page dialog box that provides a number of interesting oppotunities some of which impact publishing. At this point maybe it's best to review them all and note those that are important to your publish routine.
- First, you have to go all the way to the bottom of the list and find Compatibility. Here, you have to check the Design…Browser box and then enter your site's URL so that InfoPath can "verify" compatibility. This URL should be to a SharePOint site, not Central Admin and it will actually call out to the formserivce.asmx that it finds in the site's \_vti_bin virtual folder. When you click OK it will actually connect to the server and do something so give it a second while you read the Conencting to Server status indicator.
- Now that you've told the form it can expect to see service in a browser, the Browser page option will appear at the top of the list. Here, you can specify the placement of the tool bar(s) and the action(s) that will appear on them. The top bar has the Powered by InfoPath Form Services with the Office 12 Logo. If you uncheck the top bar, the stupid logo will get pushed down to the bottom bar. If you delete the top and bottom bar, you'll get a little white footer bar that says Powered by: InfoPath Forms Services in text. I bet you could embed some custom in-line CSS to make that disappear. As is, I'm rolling with the stupid logo and both top and bottom bars with just Close and Print View options.
- The Open and Save page give you some on screen options but I'm not sure they'll play in a browser. You do get a little rule builder thingey to leverage the form open event. Actions attached to the form save event is not supported in a browser so you get the polite little yellow panel explaining that Save using custom code is not supported in a browser.
- I'm not sure Offline is a great topic for browser-based forms but E-Mail Attachments is interesting because eMailing forms is a great option on same. Here, if you can dot the data only, the data and the template or neither. This means your targeted recipient can look at the form in InfoPath when he or she gets it. There's also eMail friendly forms that work alot like Lotus Notes where the functional form will appear in your eMail.
- Property Promotion is the familiar list of schema elements that will get poked out to metadata when it is written out to a SharePoint list.
- Digital Signatures are cool. I'll need to look at them in detail, but here, just note that, in a browser, you can only sign specific schema elements. Apparently, you can't sign the whole form at once.
- Security and Trust is a great tab. You'll need to refer to these as you run into trouble deploying more sophisticated solutions like custom code.
- The Programming tab will let you drop in a custom task pane, which could be way cool, but then it warns you about Script and Code. I think the "script" that it's talking about is the old VBScript or JavaScript that you can embed in IP forms. Then you can hook up VB or C# code behind pages.
- Versioning is trivial.
- Compatibility we spoke of earlier.
- Advanced let's you treat null values as zeroes. Cool
hth
–robot
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