Thom Robbins | Thomas Robbins
1 Infopath for Developers
This book really doesn't teach you much of anything - it tells you about things, it describes concepts - but there is very little step-by-step information. If you are looking for tutorial type materials, this isn't it. If you are looking for books to supplement tutorial type materials, this is very likely your book.
2 The Best Book on InfoPath for the Developer
InfoPath is a new component of Microsoft Office that serves to implement Microsoft's vision of how Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, Outlook, Internet Information Server, VisualStudio.NET, Windows, SQL Server all tie together in the basic .NET environment to make an integrated business environment for the sharing of data within an organization.
Mr. Robbins is a Senior Technology Specialist with Microsoft. He appears to be an evangelist for the .NET, Web Services, XML and certainly the InfoPath approach. In this book he presents a complete introduction to InfoPath from describing what it is supposed to do, to using it's IDE to produce some intergrated solutions.
The book is said to be of beginner to intermediate level. This means beginner only so far as InfoPath is concerned. The book presumes you have a good understanding of especially Office 2003, the .NET Framework, and Visual Studio.NET 2003. You also need some knowledge of the other packages listed at the beginning. Finally, this is a book designed for the applications developer, not the end user. Consequently some programming experience may not be an absolute requirement, but a little .ASP, SQL, HTML knowledge wouldn't hurt.
This is the hands down best book on InfoPath for the developer that's been published so far.
3 Great place to get started
"Programming Microsoft InfoPath" is a great place to start.
The book covers how to get started and how InfoPath fits into the software developer's toolbox, from Form design thru security, and integration with SharePoint/BizTalk.
With this book and a little practice, I was able to start creating practical "Smart Client" applications on the first day.
Pat Tormey PE
Foursquare Solutions
4 Excellent reference for Infopath developers
The first thing you need to know before purchasing this book is the software requirements in order to work with the sample programs. For software you will need either Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP Professional and InfoPath 2003. To work with many web-enabled samples you will also need an Internet Information Server. To compile and run many of the samples you will also need Visual Studio.NET 2003 or the .NET Framework 1.1. It also require Microsoft Office 2003 and all associated products. The book also assumes a basic knowledge of program development in a distributed environment (although the assumptions here are pretty minimal). You will note that all the software required is totally Microsoft. If you are not willing to put on your Microsoft blinders and believe that nothing exists in the computer world other than Microsoft then you will not be particularly interested in Infopath nor this book. On the other hand, if you are a totally Microsoft office, read on.
Infopath is Microsoft's collaborative environment for office automation and workflow control. Using XML based forms a user can input information once and have it shared into Word, Excel, SQL, or other applications simultaneously. Needless to say this can increase efficiency tremendously for situations where data has to be rewritten or cut-and-paste into different programs to keep it all up to date. For those already working with Infopath, or planning to make that move, the book is an excellent guide to developing data sharing programs that take input with validation, store, extract, and update that information through easy to use forms, provide a secure solution, and integrate with Biztalk Server.
The approach of the author is to provide basic information and instruction interspersed with actual coding examples so you can actually test your knowledge and see the results. This is one of the best teaching methods and he does an excellent job. A quick view of the table of contents shows the highly organized layout of the book. It starts with an examination of the Infopath integrated development environment (IDE), then follows with generating XML Forms, web service forms, and database forms, next is building workflow-enabled applications, integrating with BizTalk server, building smart client applications, securing solutions, and finally deploying your application.
For those developing applications in the InfoPath environment this is a top-notch guide that provides everything you need to know to start creating a collaborative working environment. If your company has made the commitment to InfoPath "Programming Microsoft Infopath: A Developer's Guide" is a book you will want to have.
