2.1. Touring the InfoPath Designer

To examine the InfoPath Designer, a good sample form is necessary to show off the various features available. For this reason, the Absence Request form should be opened in design view. This is a good form that includes various controls and provides a good overview of various designer tools.

When first starting Microsoft InfoPath 2003, the Fill Out a Form dialog box opens. After picking Sample Forms from the Form categories on the left, the Absence Request form is highlighted. One of the tasks in the Form tasks is Design this Form, shown in Figure 2-1.

Figure 2.1. Figure 2-1

After clicking the Design this Form task, the Absence Request form opens in the InfoPath designer, as shown in Figure 2-2.

As can be seen in Figure 2-2, there are three main areas within the form designer:

• Menus and Toolbars: It contains the standard setup of menus and toolbars, which change depending on the task you are currently performing.

• Main Design Layout: This is where the design of the form is laid out. Elements are dragged from the various task panes and are laid out in table format.

• Task Panes: These tasks panes will display different tasks when various categories are chosen. The various categories are described in the next section.

Figure 2.2. Figure 2-2

2.1.1. Overview of the Task Panes

In Microsoft Office applications, such as Word and Excel, you are using task panes when you choose to open or create new documents. InfoPath takes things a step further by displaying a task pane constantly when designing forms using the various categories of tasks.

2.1.1.1. Layout Task Pane

The Layout task pane contains tasks that help build the base structure of the form. The various layout tasks mainly have to do with specifying table layouts with different numbers of columns, as shown in Figure 2-3.

Figure 2.3. Figure 2-3

2.1.1.2. Control Task Pane

The Control task category will be used to insert the various controls that you can use on your forms. Controls are used to control or insert data into your forms. While some controls are automatically inserted into the form when you choose your fields from data sources, there will be times when you will want to add special controls to your form. Some of these controls can be seen on the Control task pane in Figure 2-4.

In addition to the two control categories displayed in Figure 2-4, Standard controls and Repeating and Optional (sections), there are two other categories: File and Picture controls and Advanced controls.

You will see more on the various controls and how to use them in Chapter 6, "Working with Controls in General."

Figure 2.4. Figure 2-4

2.1.1.3. Data Source Task Pane

The Data Source task pane is where you specify and work with the data sources you will use as the base for your form. You can see the data source, in this case an XML schema (data structure), displayed in Figure 2-5. If you are adding a data source, or specifying one for the form such as a database, you will use the Data Connections command on the Tools menu.

You will learn about databases and XML in the next two chapters.

Figure 2.5. Figure 2-5

2.1.1.4. Views Task Pane

The Views task pane manages the various views you have in your forms. As mentioned in Chapter 1, a form can have multiple views where you are organizing your data. You can also have views to query data and others to manage the data. Figure 2-6 displays the single view choice in the Absence Request form.

Views will be discussed in great detail in Chapter 9, "Managing Views."

Figure 2.6. Figure 2-6