This document discusses InfoPath and forms in SharePoint. It argues that while InfoPath is being deprecated, it remains a viable option for creating custom forms and will be supported until 2023. No existing alternatives replace all that InfoPath can do. The document also outlines reasons to use InfoPath, challenges around its uncertain future, and advice for successful form creation.

1. SharePoint Forms &
InfoPath – Go with
what you know
Colin Phillips :: SharePoint MVP :: itgroove
January 2015

2. Who I am: Colin Phillips
My Background
 16+ Years in Technology
 Today: SharePoint Consultant and MVP (with itgroove)
 Previously:
12 Years Developing Software, IT Infrastructure Projects, Workflows, and Many Other Related Topics
 B.Sc. in Computer Science from UVic
My Socialness
Blog: mmman.itgroove.net / Twitter: @itgroove_colin
Where to learn more
cphillips@itgroove.net

3. InfoPath!? Are You Crazy? It’s 2015!
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
• Seriously? InfoPath is dead, how can you be recommending it?
• Why isn’t this presentation about how we should use another forms
product instead?
• What’s wrong with out of the box SharePoint column settings and calculated columns?
• Why shouldn’t we just customize the out of the box SharePoint forms? Developers Rule!
• Surely there’s some “free” JavaScript / jQuery solution that can do the same thing…

4. “InfoPath is Dead” … Well, it is, isn’t it? (Insert smirk here)
• Anyone who says this is simply not facing the facts. InfoPath does a lot of
things, and it does them very well, even if it’s a product that has a limited
shelf life (depending on how you look at it).
• Quote: Glen Furnas at sharepoint-community.net: "Simply put, InfoPath is
a multi-purpose product that’s been put to use in a wide variety of ways,
and no single alternative will ever replace it in all its roles.“
• Ask around and see how many people are still using Windows XP. Now
ask those same people about running XP this time last year, two years
ago, even three – upgrades happen slowly, and typically only when
motivated.

5. So Let’s All Calm Down and Think About This Rationally
• InfoPath is still a product in the current Office product suite (as of Jan 2015)
• A deprecated product is not a product that is EOL today, in fact, to quote the
Office Team, “InfoPath 2013 desktop client and InfoPath Forms Services for
SharePoint Server 2013 will continue to be supported through 2023”
• There is no Microsoft offering yet released (even in beta – even alpha!) that
is designed in whole or in part to replace any portion of what InfoPath does
• Microsoft is aware there are literally millions of InfoPath forms in widespread
use. They’ll come up with a plan to handle migration in some form. Right??
Q.E.D InfoPath is not going away anytime soon

6. The Potential Future of Forms in the Microsoft World
Microsoft Slide from SPC 2014

7. A Quick Look at FoSL (Yeah… can we hire a new “naming guy”?)
• Is it / was it released? No…ish.
• A question appears in the forums with this pic:
• Apparently it was briefly released in Office 365
developer environments – like a day or two?
• Looking further at the roadmap is… amusing
• Under “In development”…
Forms on SharePoint Lists
This feature will allow for in-browser list form customization on top
of SharePoint lists and will allow for in-browser list item editing
without having to go to a different view as well as adding and
rearranging list columns in the custom view.
• The “More Info” link takes you to a completely unrelated page
with no mention of FoSL (not even the word “form”)
More on FoSL: http://blog.metrostarsystems.com/2014/06/18/infopath-
depricated-what-is-infopaths-replacement/

8. So Then, Why Not Another (3rd Party) Forms Product?
First reason…
To paraphrase The Simpsons;
o Trying to get any of our customers to seriously consider a
3rd party option has proven very difficult (regardless of the
ROI)
o Why pay for some third party product when you already
have a powerful tool at your disposal? (Hint: InfoPath)
o Thus far, only InfoPath has all the power on premise as well
as online. Third party Office 365 solutions leave somewhat
to be desired (often much more than somewhat).
“The finger thing means the money!”

9. What Are Some 3rd Party Options?
Product Available on Premises (2013) Available in Office 365
Nintex Forms Yes Yes
Formotus Forms Yes, but not direct integration with SharePoint Yes, but not direct integration
K2 SmartForms Yes Yes… when combined with
Workflow?
KWizCom Yes No
SPForm Yes Yes (different name & functionality)
PDF ShareForms Yes No
Forms7 Yes (in version 0.0.081) No
Dell Quick Apps Um… yes? Their website was really unclear No
A reasonably complete list of options
5 Alternatives to InfoPath for SharePoint forms (from ShareGate):
http://en.share-gate.com/blog/5-alternatives-to-infopath-for-sharepoint-forms

10. Why Not Just Use the Out of the Box SharePoint
Columns / Forms … Hello? Anyone?
• When talking seriously about what SharePoint can do with just
modifying the column settings, you start to run out of options
fairly quickly.
• Yes, mostly all the column types you could want are there, but
the logic rules you can apply to the columns is severely limited
• There’s no concept of views
• Depending on your column choices early on, this can adversely
affect downstream behaviours (things like Business Intelligence)
– these can be mitigated with form tools; like InfoPath

11. Why Not Just Customize the Out of the Box SharePoint
Forms? It’s Just ASP.net.
• First off… if you have a developer on staff that has the skills to
customize these – great, this is a possible option. Almost
none of our customers (regardless of size) have this option.
• Two of the major downsides of customizing out of the box
SharePoint forms are maintainability and upgradability.
• If you’re afraid of the upgradability future of InfoPath forms,
don’t kid yourself, ASP.net forms aren’t going to be any easier
to upgrade. Additionally, MS will most likely provide an
upgrade path for InfoPath forms – you’re on your own with
custom built forms.

12. What About Some “Free” JavaScript / jQuery Solution?
• Good luck with that! Remember that thing in v0.0.081?
• A “free” solution is never a free ($0) solution
• What happens when your “developer” leaves – will new
changes ever be possible?
• Finding new talent (hiring that same skill set) to
take over a role can be difficult and/or expensive
• Developing your own talent can be time
consuming and just as expensive, and then what
do you do when they leave?
• You can always farm it out to an overseas agency… and
end up with something that doesn’t do anything that
resembles your needs
Above: From a presentation
on implementing an open
source solution at the
College of Charleston

13. Ok, Ok, So Why InfoPath?
• At its most basic, InfoPath can be used:
To create custom stand alone forms. The XML format is easy for
developers to work with.
To create custom forms for SharePoint lists. These forms save
their data back into SharePoint as a list item with the data saved as
the items’ columns.
To create custom forms in SharePoint libraries. These forms save
their data as a file in a SharePoint library. Data can be moved in /
out of the forms by “promoting” columns.
To create workflow forms in both SharePoint Designer and Visual
Studio workflows.

14. Reasons to Use InfoPath
• Rich editor to create a form that can look like anything you want.
• Rules based business logic to hide, show, format and validate fields.
• External connectivity to offer dropdown lists populated from SharePoint lists, SQL server and
many other sources.
• While a forms designer needs a licensed copy of InfoPath, the end user only needs a web
browser. Users do not need any InfoPath product or version if the forms are hosted in the
Enterprise Edition of SharePoint 2007, 2010 or 2013.
• No knowledge of JavaScript, jQuery, XML, HTML or CSS needed to create custom forms and
custom validation.
• Multiple views of data. Example: A user might see 50 fields when filling out the form. The
approvers might see a 10 field summary and after approval or rejection the user might only see 2
fields and a comments field.
• Optional bidirectional data (edit a property in the InfoPath form and it updates in the library
metadata, edit library metadata and it updates in the InfoPath form - great for workflows!)
From: http://techtrainingnotes.blogspot.ca/2014/01/why-
use-infopath-sharepoint-infopath.html

15. But… (There’s Always a But) The Future is Rather Muddy
• InfoPath vs Forms Services
• InfoPath is supported until 2023 but there is no such policy in place for Forms Services
• On Premises SharePoint vNext will likely drop support for Forms Services
• How will users / enterprises obtain InfoPath in the future?
• InfoPath won’t be in Office vNext, so how do you maintain older forms?
• Office subscription models are changing and phasing it out
• Becoming a standalone (discontinued) product?
• InfoPath 2013 Dec 2014 Hotfix: “Users can submit data to email messages when they
install InfoPath 2013 side by side with future versions of Microsoft Office”
• Will it become free like “Money” and “Flight Simulator”
• Turbulent times ahead, but InfoPath forms will live on for a long time, regardless

16. A Few Keys to Success With Any Form You Create
• Don’t take on a form you know you can’t create
• Learn what the tool is capable of first & apply that in practice
• Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know”
• Try stuff out in a “safe area” (sandbox) before committing to a “yes” or “no”
• InfoPath isn’t going to solve world hunger *anymore*, don’t think it’s capable of
anything or everything
• Understand what your customer wants and draw it out in a “very simple” format
you can both agree to – it’s a lot easier to change paper than what’s on screen
• Colour, graphics, sexy fonts, flare… that s&%t can go a long way

17. Summary
• InfoPath isn’t going to be easy to replace – and the motivation to go
back and change old forms will follow the arc of a slow moving train
• InfoPath is still a great product. It does a lot of things really well. It will
remain a viable option for the foreseeable future
• Until we start to see more out of the folks over at Microsoft regarding
the future of forms (life after InfoPath), my advice is to continue using
InfoPath as it’s still an awesome tool, and it accomplishes a great deal of
tasks all in a single package

18. Questions?
Contact Info
Colin Phillips
cphillips@itgroove.net
blog: mmman.itgroove.net
Twitter: @itgroove_colin