Migrating InfoPath Forms to Nintex Forms

Transcription

1 Migrating InfoPath Forms to Nintex Forms

2 Gary Devendorf Director of Product Development FORMTREK

3 Agenda Quick demo InfoPath form to Nintex form Value of form migration Migrating the InfoPath Form process Detailed demo Technical issues Design decisions Next steps

4 Quick demo InfoPath form to Nintex form

5 5 InfoPath form to Nintex form

6 Demo recap Technical details coming later in this presentation Bound data Fonts Controls Labels XY locations 6

7 Value of form migration Why you care

8 InfoPath s history and end of life 8 First released in Office 2003 Professional Enterprise Last release in Office 2013 Professional Plus, Office 365 January 31, 2014, Microsoft announced that InfoPath was discontinued Will be replaced by a more cross-platform solution currently under development Client application supported until April 2023 set to retire by 2026 Office 365 PowerApps might be the official Microsoft replacement No official announcement from Microsoft yet Stated on TechNet PowerApps and Flow are the successor to the InfoPath/SharePoint Designer model See article and video:

9 Power Apps a Microsoft road map Part of Office 365 Cross platform (Window, Android, IOS) Create it once for multiple clients Many data sources Workflow Will it be a good replacement for InfoPath (in time!)? Not feature complete yet Very clunky form design experience Continues updates 9

10 Just having a migration path/process Adds value to current platform (InfoPath) Adds value to your Nintex investment Gives you a road map for the future Leverages you current skills and staff Makes you look good 10

11 Significant need/opportunity? A large number of InfoPath forms currently being used on SharePoint Support is coming to an end Upgrade these forms and data to a modern application platform Without spending a lot of money! The process is easier with a migration tool Add value by focusing on improving the forms and workflow instead of boring transformation work 11

12 Migrating the InfoPath form process How hard is it?

13 Two parts of the task First: Extract design from InfoPath form file (.xsn) Then: Generate Nintex XML import file Let s talk about InfoPath extraction first 13

14 And InfoPath Forms contain Controls: Textbox, radio button, checkbox, repeating tables, ActiveX Repeating sections for storing child data Views more to come 14

15 And InfoPath Forms contain Rules: Apply actions when triggered Conditional formatting: Change display based on conditions 15

16 And InfoPath Forms contain Xpath expressions and functions: Calculate values using functions 16

17 And InfoPath Forms contain Use Visual Studio for applications for creating custom code using Jscript, Visual Basic, C#, etc. SharePoint integration User roles for customizing a user s experience Formatting and user interface are similar to Word 2003 or 2010 Did not receive the updated UI that appeared in

18 InfoPath form versus views There is only one form in the InfoPath file Views display subsets of the form So it just looks like there is more than one form 18

19 InfoPath XSN file structure The cab file contains all of the needed files: Manifest file listing the contents Image files Form and view stylesheets XML schema files Sample data Custom code Do you want to become an expert on all this? 19

20 How about extracting data if needed? InfoPath can store data As an XML file on a PC As an XML file in a form library on a SharePoint server In a SharePoint custom list 20

21 Mapping to content created with an InfoPath form 21

22 SharePoint document library Must enable Property Promotion for the InfoPath form template Can map InfoPath Form fields to SharePoint list columns Limit of 256 fields (columns in a SharePoint list)

23 SharePoint document library Click Export to Excel

24 SharePoint document library The export file is opened in Excel The InfoPath Form fields that do not have Property Promotion enabled are not exported or displayed in a SharePoint list view Only fields that are promoted can be mapped to when using a Nintex Form 25

25 SharePoint document library Sample solution for exporting data from a repeating table to a SharePoint list InfoPath 2010 Code has to be added to the InfoPath form Use Visual Studio Tools for applications 26

26 Detailed demo What you didn t see

27 See the tool

28 Demo recap Read InfoPath file (.xsn) file Select views Extract design elements Create Nintex XML import file Import into Nintex Designer 29

29 Design decisions Wish list

30 Design decisions InfoPath form view? Append to big form Duplicates, XY location, Migration report text? Separate text file What should be in the report Packaging of migrator? Cloud self-service, desktop, hybrid, other 31

31 Design decisions <continued> 32 Design elements that don t map? Create a place holder with label Generate a list Other Version control? Overwrite files Clean up? Directions, workflow, side-by-side

32 Design decisions <continued> Finding your InfoPath form? Search SharePoint tool Generate form count and type (Custom List or Lib) Form analysis? Number of controls Type of controls (i.e., data picker) More 33

33 Next steps

34 Next steps Beta program One on one demos FormTrek.com Get ready for the party (I ll be there)

35 Questions

36 From the xchange mobile app, select Survey from the sessions that you attend Complete the short evaluation Click Submit

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