Lesson: Forms Library

Creating a Forms Library

You can create a Forms Library just as easy as creating any other library in SharePoint. The following screen capture shows the Forms Library template:

Although it is easy to create a Forms Library using the App template, if you are planning on designing forms with InfoPath Designer, it is usually simpler to create a library as part of the publishing process. One advantage of using the publishing process to create the library is you can choose which fields you want to create library columns for and which fields you only want stored in the XML body of the document item. In a later walk-through and in the lab exercises, you will see how to publish a form template and create a library at the same time.

Creating InfoPath Forms

Create a Form with Microsoft InfoPath Designer

In this walk-through, you will learn how to create a simple form using Microsoft InfoPath Designer.

1. Launch InfoPath Designer 2013.
2. Select a template to design an InfoPath form.
   1. Note in the Available Form Templates page that InfoPath loads at startup there are a couple of templates designed specifically for SharePoint. Both of these templates are preformatted with labels and titles.
   2. Select the Blank Form template and click the Design Form button to start the process.
3. Add text and fields to the new blank form.
   1. Click the text Click to add title in the form designer window.
   2. Type the following text in the title area: Request for Time Off.
   3. Right-click after the text and select the Paint Bucket icon drop-down, and from the drop-down select the Light Green color.
   4. Click in the region below the dotted line that the title sits above to place your insertion bar in the upper-left corner.
   5. Click the Insert tab at the top of the InfoPath Designer window.
   6. Click the arrow in the bottom right corner of the tables list to open it. Select the Two Column with Emphasis 4 No Heading option from the list.
   7. Type the following text Name: in the top left cell of the table you just added.
   8. Type Start Date: in the cell below "Name:" and type Return Date: in the cell below "Start Date:".
   9. With your insertion point in the last row behind the "Return Date:" text, right-click and select the Insert option then select the Rows Below sub option.
   10. Click inside the left cell of the new row and type the text Reason:; it should be directly below "Return Date:".
   11. Click inside the top right cell with the text Add control currently in it.
   12. Click the Home tab to view its toolbar.
   13. From the Controls list box in the Home tab, click the Text Box control to add it to the selected cell on the form.
   14. Click inside the Add control cell to the right of the "Start Date:" label.
   15. From the Controls list box in the Home tab, click the Date Picker control to add it to the selected cell on the form.
   16. Repeat the previous two steps to add a Date Picker control in the cell next to "Return Date:".
   17. Click inside the last Add control cell to the right of the "Reason:" label.
   18. From the Controls list box in the Home tab, click the Text Box control to add it to the selected cell on the form.
   19. Right-click the first text box control to the right of the "Name:" label and select the Text Box Properties... option from the menu.
   20. On the Data tab of the Text Box Properties dialog window replace "field1" with Name in the Field name field. Click the OK button to save the changes.
   21. Repeat previous two steps to rename the Date Picker controls, "field2" and "field3", to StartDate and ReturnDate.
   22. Repeat the steps for the "Reason:" text box control renaming it from "field4" to Reason, but in addition to the field name click the Size tab in the Text Box properties dialog window and change the Height property from "auto" to 50 pixels. Click the OK button to save the changes.
   23. The final version of our form should look similar to the following image:

       Leave InfoPath open for the next walk-through that will show you how to publish the form to SharePoint.

Publishing InfoPath Forms to SharePoint

Publish Custom InfoPath Form

This walk-through will show you how to publish the InfoPath form created in the previous walk-through. As part of the publishing process, the walk-through will create a new Forms library with custom library columns. The walk-through will then test the new form by creating a new item in the library.

1. Publish the custom form using InfoPath Designer.
   1. From within InfoPath Designer, click the Save icon in the upper-left corner of the window above the toolbar.
   2. In the Save As dialog window, keep the default location and name the file Time-Off leaving the Save as type set to InfoPath Web Browser Form Template. Click the Save button to complete the process

      InfoPath requires that you save the form before you can publish it.

   3. Click the File tab to get the "Backstage" view of InfoPath Designer.
   4. Click the Publish button on the "Backstage" view of InfoPath Designer. This will take you to the publish options tab.
   5. Click the SharePoint Server option on the Publish tab of the "Backstage" view. This will launch the Publishing Wizard
   6. In the Publishing Wizard dialog window, enter your SharePoint site URL, http://spserver2016/sites/student. Click the Next button to continue.
   7. Leave the default values on the second page of the Publishing Wizard. Click the Next button to continue.
   8. Leave the default value, Create a new form library selected on the third page of the Publishing Wizard. Click the Next button to continue.
   9. In the Name field of the Publishing Wizard's fourth page enter "TimeOff". For the Description field enter "Demo library for requesting time off". Click the Next button to continue.
   10. On the next and fifth page of the Publishing Wizard, click the Add button next to the first list box under the heading The fields listed below will be available as columns in SharePoint sites and Outlook folders.
   11. In the Select a Field or Group dialog window leave the field Name selected with the default settings and click the OK button.
   12. Repeat the previous two steps to add the fields StartDate and ReturnDate. The final list of columns should look like the following image. Click the Next button to continue.
   13. Click the Publish button on the sixth page of the Publishing Wizard.
   14. Click the Close button on the final page of the Publishing Wizard.
   15. Close InfoPath.
2. Test the new TimeOff Forms library and your custom form.
   1. Switch back to your browser window and select the Contoso Home Site link in the Top Navigation Bar to refresh the page and the Quick Launch menu so your new library TimeOff shows up on it.
   2. Click the TimeOff link in the Quick Launch menu.
   3. Click the New link in the TimeOff library to create a new item.
   4. Note how your new custom form opens with the formatting and fields you created. Use the following image as a guide to filling in the form. Click the date icon to get a date picker to choose the dates from.
   5. Click the Save button to save the entries to the "TimeOff" form.
   6. In the Save As dialog, enter "Homer" for the File name field and click the Save button.
   7. Click the Close button on the "Time Off" form to close it.
   8. Note the new item in the TimeOff library and the columns, Start Date, Return Date, and Name that were created when you published the form. The "Reason" field data on the form is stored inside the InfoPath item file.

Creating and Publishing InfoPath Forms

In this exercise, you will how to create a basic InfoPath form and publish it to a SharePoint site.

1. Launch InfoPath Designer 2013.
2. Select a template to design an InfoPath form.
   1. Note in the Available Form Templates page that InfoPath loads at startup that there are a couple of templates designed specifically for SharePoint. Both of these templates are preformatted with labels and titles.
   2. Instead of using the preformatted templates, you are going to build a more basic form by selecting the Blank Form template and clicking the Design Form button to start the process.
3. Add text and fields to the new blank form.
   1. Click the text Click to add title in the form designer window.
   2. Type the following text in the title area Contact Information.
   3. Click in the region below the dotted line that the title sits above to place your insertion bar in the upper-left corner.
   4. Type the following text First Name:, add a space after the ":".
   5. With your insertion point on the same line with text you just typed, click the Text Box control found on the toolbar inside the Controls list box.

      Note that there are several controls to choose from in the Controls list box. This example is intended to be a simple example so you are only using the Text Box control, but feel free to experiment on your own with other types of controls.

   6. Drag the sizing handle on the right-hand side of the new text box control that you just added until it looks similar to the following image.
   7. Click just to the right of the text box control that you just resized to place the insertion point. Type a couple of spaces and then type the following text Last Name:, adding a space after the ":".
   8. Click the Text Box control from the Controls area of the toolbar to add another text box control behind the "Last Name:" text you just entered. Resize the new text box control until your form looks similar to the following image.
   9. Click behind the second text box control to place your insertion point and press your Enter key twice to move your insertion point to a new line and add space to line above it.
   10. Follow the previous steps to add text and a text box control for "Email" and "Phone", each on a separate line. Use the following image as a guide to what your form should look like at this point.
4. Edit the properties of the Text Box controls.
   1. Right-click the First Name Text Box control and select Text Box Properties... from the context menu.
   2. In the Text Box Properties dialog window, rename the Field name: from "field1" to "FirstName". Click the OK button to save your changes.
   3. Repeat the previous step with each field renaming "field2" to "LastName", "field3" to "Email" and "field4" to "Phone".
5. Publish the new form to SharePoint.
   1. Click the Save icon in the upper-left corner of the InfoPath window.
   2. In the Save As dialog window, name the file ContactForm.xsn and save it somewhere on your computer.
   3. Click the File tab at the top of the InfoPath Designer window.
   4. Click the Publish button on the Info page.
   5. Click the SharePoint Server button on the Publish page to start the process of publishing to SharePoint.
   6. In the Publishing Wizard dialog window, enter your SharePoint site URL, http://spserver2016/sites/student. Click the Next button to continue.
   7. Leave the default values on the second page of the Publishing Wizard. Click the Next button to continue.
   8. Leave the default value, Create a new form library selected on the third page of the Publishing Wizard. Click the Next button to continue.
   9. In the Name field of the Publishing Wizard's fourth page enter "ContactFormLibrary". For the Description field enter "Sample library for contacts using InfoPath forms". Click the Next button to continue.
   10. On the next and fifth page of the Publishing Wizard click the Add button next to the first list box under the heading The fields listed below will be available as columns in SharePoint sites and Outlook folders.
   11. In the Select a Field or Group dialog window, leave the field FirstName selected with the default settings and click the OK button.
   12. Repeat the previous two steps to add the fields LastName and Email. The final list of columns should look like the following image. Click the Next button to continue.
   13. Click the Publish button on the sixth page of the Publishing Wizard.
   14. Click the Close button on the final page of the Publishing Wizard.
6. Close Microsoft InfoPath Designer.
7. Add a new InfoPath document to the library created by Microsoft InfoPath Designer.
   1. Go back to your browser window or open a new one if it is not already open.
   2. Navigate to the site you published the InfoPath form in.
   3. Click the new ContactsFormLibrary link in the site's Quick Launch menu.
   4. Click the New link to add a new entry into the library.
   5. Note that the form that opens in your browser has the fields and layout you defined in InfoPath Designer.
   6. Enter some data into the fields, for example: "Bart" for the First Name, "Simpson" for the Last Name, "bart@contoso.com" for the Email and "555-1212" for the Phone. Click the Save button when you are done filling in the fields.
   7. In the Save As dialog form, enter "Bart" for the File Name field. Click the Save button to complete the process.
   8. Click the Close button to close the Contact Information form.
   9. Note that the new document named "Bart" has the three columns, First Name, Last Name, and Email in the library view because you selected to add those fields as columns when you published the form. The Phone was not selected to be a column in the library but the data is stored inside the document item.