SharePoint custom list level infopath form template recommended way to customize and deploy

Question

I have a very complex SharePoint on-premise list level infopath form, I mean the original list was customized in infopath form, so at present the list forms like new, edit and update are getting opened in infopath look and feel.

Now, I have a requirement to customize this infopath form - adding around 20 new columns to this form.

As of now following this approach, taken the template of the production list and created the new list out of this template in the test environment.

So my questions are as below:

• How to deploy the new changes of this list infopath form in production list? Recommended approach
  • Before deploying to the production list - I want to take the backup of the existing list infopath form template to avoid any uncertain risk - regarding this I have read the below thread where they have mentioned to go to the settings-->form settings and download the template as backup but this will work in Infopath form libray type form not in list type infopath form

Infopath form libray type form : the form which was originally developed using infopath form desinger and got published to Form Library.

List type infopath form: The actual list was created using SharePoint custom list template and later on the list was customized using the Infopath designer.

How to take a backup of infopath and restoring infopath in sharepoint

Any recommended approach with reference article will be much appreciated.

Answer 1

It is possible, but is not supported by native user interface of either InfoPath or SharePoint. The trick is that you would need to change the "Main Data Connection" to point to your new destination (Production) instead of where you currently edited it from (Test). However, InfoPath locks down this connection, so that you cannot alter it. It does this to "protect" you, since if you pointed the connection to a list that was not identical, the whole form and list could break.

In order to modify the destination Site URL, you will have to "explode" the compressed InfoPath file and edit the xml files directly in your favorite text editor, then re-build the InfoPath .xsn file, then finally use the built-in publishing to publish to production.

The following blog article has a step-by-step instructions with helpful screenshots. The instructions are for moving a Form from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2013, but the process is identical for moving from one SharePoint server to another.