Infopath Subform/Link to Another Form within a Form

Question

I am trying replicate a database I have in Access with InfoPath and SharePoint lists.

Currently I have two lists which are related to each other. List one is Suppliers (Parent) and list two is Factories (Child). The relationship between suppliers and factories is one to many, so each supplier can have a list of different factory locations.

I have created a new content type for suppliers from Infopath, however I'm struggling to get the form to display as I would like.

The way I want it structured is when a new Supplier is created and all the relevant information is being filled in at supplier level on the form there is an option to add a factory to that supplier which will bring up a new form to fill in the factory information, allow the user to submit it and go back to the supplier form. The supplier form would then have a table with a summary of the factory (or factories), the user can then have the option of clicking into the factory to view/edit further information or add another factory.

Basically the same functionality you would have within Access with a sub-form.

Is this possible and if so does anybody have some rough guidelines on how to go about it?

Thanks

Answer 1

If you're on a SharePoint 2013 environment, why not use Access 2013 apps? Since you're already using Access for the database, with Access 2013 apps, you wouldn't have to do too much work to publish your Access project as an Access web app and make the functionality you're looking for work on SharePoint.

Using Access 2013 Apps ensures that your project:

• Can be migrated fairly easily to the next iteration of SharePoint
• Uses a SQL Server backend for more efficient querying and improved functionality (given the performance and threshold limitations of SharePoint lists)
• Works well with Ofiice 365

Note that with the release of SharePoint Server 2016, InfoPath Forms Services is now deprecated. Put another way, whatever work you do now converting your Access forms to InfoPath will likely be wasted -- you'll have to re-create your InfoPath solution to whatever forms solution Microsoft will support in the future.

And it looks Access 2013 Apps may be the direction Microsoft will be taking with forms:

Rehmani said that "Access is making a comeback in a huge way," which may have been a clue of sorts about Microsoft's forms direction. Rehmani explained that Access web apps for 2013 in its current form is a subset of what InfoPath 2013 could do. Access can be used as a means of simplifying Web development, and it's interactive with SharePoint 2013 or Office 365 services, he explained.

Here's a good introduction to Access 2013 Apps: http://www.cardinalsolutions.com/blog/2013/12/the_pros_and_consof

Lastly, if you're on a SharePoint 2010 environment, you can publish your Access database to Access Services on SharePoint Server 2010 as a web database.

Here's a good round-up of the differences between Access 2010 web databases and Access 2013 web apps: http://rogersaccessblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/access-web-databases-2010-vs-2013.html

Answer 2

In InfoPath forms, you can create more than one display view (pages), so create more display views which will be changed with on-click action on button and you can have everything in one InfoPath form (with some code)

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Add-delete-and-switch-views-pages-in-a-form-89677734-2a77-47fa-8c04-d83fd24f18c2