Deploying all components of an InfoPath form plus managed code as a solution

Question

Has anyone successfully packaged up an InfoPath form solution with the following features?

• Custom site columns for properties promoted from form
• Custom content types to be associated with form
• InfoPath data connections deployed to the server
• InfoPath form containing managed code
• Form library linking all of these components together

Some issues I've though of before starting down this track... InfoPath likes to hard code URLs which means deployment to different servers can be a problem. There's also the managed code requirement that typically requires deployment through Central Administration (although I did find this blog post by Jason Apergis).

Has anyone successfully done this?

Answer 1

Deployment of a managed code form template associated with a content type and the associated site columns I have achieved. I deploy these by simply publishing the form from InfoPath to a network location and copying the associated dlls and xsn into the root of my feature folder. I then use a feature similar to this to deploy:

<Feature 
  Id="[GUID]" 
  Title="MyFormTemplate" 
  Description="InfoPath form template" 
  Version="1.0.0.0" 
  Scope="Site" 
  DefaultResourceFile="ipfscore" 
  ReceiverClass="Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server.Administration.XsnFeatureReceiver" 
  ReceiverAssembly="Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" 
  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

<ElementManifests>

 <ElementManifest Location="elements.xml" />

 <!-- InfoPath Form Template Files -->
 <ElementFile Location="MyForm.dll" />
 <ElementFile Location="AnotherDependant.dll" />
 <ElementFile Location="MyForm.xsn" />

 </ElementManifests>

 <Properties>
  <Property Key="FeatureName" Value="My Form Template" />
 </Properties>

 <ActivationDependencies>
  <ActivationDependency FeatureId="C88C4FF1-DBF5-4649-AD9F-C6C426EBCBF5" />
 </ActivationDependencies>

</Feature>  

The XsnFeatureReceiver handles creating the site content type and columns as long as they have been configured properly in InfoPath.

Cannot comment on the other bits as this is all we tend to do with IP.

Answer 2

Great question!!!! I personally have not done this, and have had to dance around the environment variables (i.e. links) question on more than one occasion.

Typically I create the site either based on a std template or a custom site def deployed as a solution.

The DCon library and content can be brought in as part of the site template.

I have deployed a number of content types via a solution file as well, but I can't say for sure that InfoPath forms used them. I don't think should be a problem though.

The crux of the question I think involves the actual forms. I have always gone through and published the forms after the site is provisioned and or configured. I'm not sure if it is possible to set everything for packaging and then deploy without touching anything.