Forms: InfoPath or SharePoint designer?

Question

Being new to SharePoint I am trying to create a form that displays on a page. I have access to SharePoint Designer and InfoPath. I do not have access to Power Apps or anything else. Ultimately the goal is to have the form gather information for campaign requests where these requests can later be approved/denied and the requester can go to another page to get Campaign Status information.

What are my options are for storing the form fill-in data in SharePoint and having the form display on the page without having the +add item button?

Example : user1 requests a campaign by filling out the form by going to a webpage with the form; manager1 goes in and requests/denies; user1 checks status of initial request.

Any info is helpful, keep in mind I am very new to SharePoint so details really do help.

Answer 1

What you describe is standard for the way SharePoint list work. When you create a custom list you'll be able to add the columns (aka Fields) as your requirement needs. As you add fields they will appear on the list DispForm.aspx, NewForm.aspx, and EditForm.aspx forms. By default, the Display form will not have an "Add" button. This is only on the list view itself.

If you want a manager to be able to approve/reject list items, you'll need to setup a workflow that contains a "Start Approval" process. This will send a notification email to the manager to approve or reject. You can configure the workflow to fire only when a new item is added or changed in the list.

Answer 2

A new form can be linked to by using the address that appears after your click on the +add item (it will end in NewForm.aspx). If you need the out of the box form to be displayed on a particular page you'll probably have to use an iframe. Otherwise you can use infopath to create a form and display it on a page. To create your infopath form you'll click on the customize form button under the list tab in the ribbon. It will look like this:

Once you create the infopath form you can add it to a page by adding the InfoPath WebPart. That is located under the Forms Category.

Once your infopath web part is added, click on the link to open the tool pane and then locate the list you created the form on. Save your changes and voila you have the form on your page.

For forms that have multiple people approving, I recommend keeping the approval process on the form itself and only using the workflow to notify the next person set to approve the form. Basically you have each submission update a column called something like "form status" where each level is tied to a step on the workflow that triggers who to notify to approve the form. This is demonstrated by Laura Rogers on her blog. Here is the link to that resource:

Keeping the approval process on the form

Answer 3

Your list will already have the forms associated with it. They are located in a path like this:

https://YourSite/Lists/YourListName/NewForm.aspx https://YourSite/Lists/YourListName/DispForm.aspx https://YourSite/Lists/YourListName/EditForm.aspx

If you added your list to the page with the list view web part then you'll see an "Add New Item" link at the bottom of the list. That link takes you to the NewForm.aspx.