Features
- Rules apply specific actions when triggered by button clicks or changing values in the form. They can change the values of fields in the data source, submit to and query databases, display messages, open and close forms, and switch to different views of the form.
- Data Validation tests whether input into fields is valid, by comparing the input to patterns, checking if it is the correct data type (e.g., a String or an Integer), and in other customizable ways.
- Conditional Formatting can be used to change the appearance or visibility of objects based on values in the form.
- InfoPath has many different ActiveX Controls, all of which have a value bound to a field in the form's data source. Common controls include list boxes, radio buttons, text boxes, buttons, and check boxes. Info Path also uses controls such as Calculated Values, which display the result of xPath expressions, and sections, which are containers for other controls. InfoPath also includes repeating fields and sections, which can store many different values.
- XPath Expressions and Functions can be used to calculate values by applying functions to the value of fields in the form, such as "concat(string(field1 + field2), "#;", field3)" (the concatenation of the sum of two fields, the string "#;", and the value of another field). XPath functions for manipulation of strings, simple mathematical operations, and many other operations are included in InfoPath. In addition, data can be filtered (select individual values from a repeating field or database).
- InfoPath supports Connections to External Datasources. SQL, Microsoft Access, and SharePoint databases can be connected to and submitted in the form. Because of InfoPath's superior user experience and ease of data entry, it is often preferable to manipulate databases through it.
- JScript, Visual Basic, C#, and other languages can be used to extend InfoPath's capabilities by adding custom HTML taskpanes, iterating through data, using Active Directory, and generally accomplishing tasks that are impossible in the InfoPath design environment.
- SharePoint integration (see Integration with SharePoint).
- User Roles can be used to customize a user's experience by changing views and using conditional formatting based on the identity of the user.
- InfoPath's formatting capabilities and user interface are similar to Microsoft Word 2003 and 2010, depending on version.
Read more about this topic: Microsoft Info Path
Famous quotes containing the word features:
“Each reader discovers for himself that, with respect to the simpler features of nature, succeeding poets have done little else than copy his similes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is a tribute to the peculiar horror of contemporary life that it makes the worst features of earlier times—the stupefaction of the masses, the obsessed and driven lives of the bourgeoisie—seem attractive by comparison.”
—Christopher Lasch (b. 1932)
““It looks as if
Some pallid thing had squashed its features flat
And its eyes shut with overeagerness
To see what people found so interesting
In one another, and had gone to sleep
Of its own stupid lack of understanding,
Or broken its white neck of mushroom stuff
Short off, and died against the windowpane.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)