Lab 1: Editing Forms and Working with Form Data in InfoPath 2003

 

Microsoft Corporation

April 2004

Applies to:
    Microsoft® Office InfoPath™ 2003

Summary: Learn how to complete a form, add new sections to the form, and merge and export data and signing data with a digital certificate. (5 printed pages)

Contents

Prerequisites
Scenario
Lab Objective
Exercises
Conclusion

Download the odc_INF03_Labs.exe sample file.

Prerequisites

  • A digital certificate (to sign form data digitally)
  • Access to three support files: Lab1Template.xsn, Lab1Report.xml, and Lab1Reportssigned.xml

Scenario

Each member of the IT department at Contoso Corporation should be familiar with the editing capabilities of Microsoft® Office InfoPath™ 2003. In particular, they need to know the fundamentals of filling out forms, including how to merge data from several forms into a single form, how to export data to a Microsoft Office Excel 2003 worksheet, and how to sign the form with a digital signature.

Lab Objective

In this lab, you will learn how to do the following:

  • Fill out an InfoPath form.
  • Merge form data from multiple forms.
  • Export data to an Excel worksheet.
  • Digitally sign data in a form.

Exercises

Exercise 1: Fill Out Form Fields

In the following exercises, you fill out a simple sales report form.

To open a form

  1. Start InfoPath.
  2. Under Open a form in the Fill Out a Form dialog box, click Open.
  3. In the Open dialog box, locate the folder that you installed the training files in, and double-click the Lab 1 folder.
  4. Select Lab1Template.xsn, and then click Open. The Contoso sales report form opens in InfoPath. Once you have opened the form, you can begin filling it out.

To fill out the form

  1. In the Sales Representative field, type your name, and then press TAB to move to the next field.
  2. Fill out the Period, E-mail Address, and Department fields.
  3. In the Customer Name field, type a customer name.
  4. In the Name, Price, and Units Sold fields, type sample text. InfoPath fills in the Total box for you.
  5. To add another row to the table, press CTRL+ENTER or click the Insert item label directly underneath the table.
  6. To add an optional Notes section into which you can type comments about the customer, click Click here to insert notes.

When you move your pointer over certain controls in a form, such as repeating sections or optional sections, a shortcut menu button appears in the upper-left corner of the control. If you click this button, you can gain access to menu commands that let you work with the controls. In the next part, you use this button to add an additional customer section to the form.

To insert an additional customer section

  1. Move your pointer over the Customer Name label, and then click the shortcut menu button that appears immediately to the left of the label.
  2. On the shortcut menu, click Insert customer above. An empty customer section appears directly above the one you just filled out.

Exercise 2: Merge Data into the Form

Imagine that you have another sales report form. In this exercise, you merge data from that form with the sales report form you just created.

To merge forms into your form

  1. With the form from Exercise 1 still open, from the File menu, click Merge Forms.

  2. In the Merge Forms dialog box, locate and open Lab1Report.xml.

    Note   You find this file in the Lab 1 folder, in the directory where you installed your training files.

  3. To merge the data in the Lab1Report.xml form with your latest form, click Merge.

Exercise 3: Export Data to Excel

If you want to view the data from one or more forms in a worksheet, you can use the Export to Excel feature in InfoPath to send data directly to Excel. In Excel, you can filter, sort, and analyze the data. You can export data from one form at a time or from several forms at once. In this exercise, we export data from a single form.

To export data to Excel

  1. With the form from Exercise 1 still open, point to Export To on the File menu, and then click Microsoft Office Excel.
  2. On the first page of the Export to Excel Wizard, click Next.
  3. On the second page of the wizard, click Form fields and this table or list.
  4. Because you want to analyze sales data, click items in the list.
  5. Do one of the following:
    • To export the data from the sales report form, click Finish.
    • To further customize export options, or to export data from multiple forms, follow the remaining steps in the wizard.

Exercise 4: Add a Digital Signature to Part of the Form

When filling out a form, you can add a digital signature to part or all of the form, depending on the form's design. You can digitally sign forms only if they are designed to accept digital signatures. You can also remove or review digital signatures.

Once signed, the signed form or part of the form that is signed cannot be altered without invalidating the signature.

To digitally sign part of the form

  1. With the form from Exercise 1 still open, click the Click here to sign this section command at the bottom of the form.

    The Digital Signature Wizard opens.

  2. In the Select the certificate that you want to use to sign the form list, click the certificate you want to use as your digital signature, and then click Next.

  3. In the Comment box, type a comment to save with the signature, and then click Finish.

  4. Closely review what you are signing, including the image of the form content, the comment, and the information associated with the signature, and then select the I have verified this content before signing check box.

  5. Click Sign.

  6. Move your pointer over the fields in the customer name section. Because you digitally signed this portion of the form, a digital signature icon appears in the upper-right corner of each field in the section.

Conclusion

After completing this lab, you should know how to fill out a basic form and add new sections to that form. You should also know how to merge and export data from forms and how to sign data digitally in the form with a digital certificate.