Introducing Microsoft® Office InfoPath(TM) 2003 (Bpg-Other) [Paperback]

Roger Jennings (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bpg-Other | Publication Date: July 7, 2004

Explore InfoPath 2003—and transform the way you manage business information and deliver results! This guide expertly reviews InfoPath features and capabilities—including the latest updates from Microsoft Office Service Pack 1—demonstrating how to create easy-to-use forms to capture data from spreadsheets, text files, databases, XML Web Services, and even e-mail in reusable XML format. Whether you’re streamlining your invoicing system, managing performance appraisals, or collecting feedback from users or customers, you’ll discover how to quickly connect the people and information you need—with no XML expertise or advanced programming required.Covers Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 1!

Discover how to:

• Use InfoPath forms to capture and validate user input—without writing code
• Design form features, from basic controls and views to digital signing options
• Send forms to shared servers, websites, form libraries, or e-mail
• Easily reuse captured XML data in other applications, such as Microsoft Word or Excel
• Develop front-end forms that interoperate with back-end databases such as Microsoft SQL Server and with Web Services
• Use your programming skills to customize forms with the InfoPath 2003 Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET
• Generate special purpose XML documents, such as Really Simple Syndication (RSS) 2.0 filesGet ready-to-use InfoPath forms on CD!

CD features:

• Sample InfoPath business forms to adapt for your own use
• Files for all the book’s examples
• Fully searchable electronic version of the book

A Note Regarding the CD or DVD

The print version of this book ships with a CD or DVD. For those customers purchasing one of the digital formats in which this book is available, we are pleased to offer the CD/DVD content as a free download via O'Reilly Media's Digital Distribution services. To download this content, please visit O'Reilly's web site, search for the title of this book to find its catalog page, and click on the link below the cover image (Examples, Companion Content, or Practice Files). Note that while we provide as much of the media content as we are able via free download, we are sometimes limited by licensing restrictions. Please direct any questions or concerns to [e-mail].

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Roger Jennings is the author of more than 20 books about Microsoft Office applications and Windows operating systems.His U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Web services won the 2001 Microsoft .NET Best Award for horizontal solutions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (July 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735619522
• ISBN-13: 978-0735619524
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #502,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm the principal consultant of OakLeaf Systems, a Windows Azure MVP and the author of 30+ books on Microsoft operating systems (Windows NT and Windows 2000 Server), Windows Azure, databases (SQL Server, SQL Azure and Access), .NET data access, Web services and InfoPath 2003. The books have more than 1.25 million English copies in print and have been translated into 20+ languages.

My latest books are "Microsoft Access 2010 In Depth" (12th edition) for Que Publishing and "Cloud Computing with the Microsoft Azure Services Platform" for Wiley/Wrox.

I'm also the curator of the OakLeaf Systems (http://oakleafblog.blogspot.com) and Access In Depth (http://acccessindepth.blogspot.com) blogs, a contributing editor of 1105 Media's "Visual Studio Magazine" and a frequent contributor to their "Redmond Developer News" newsletter.

OakLeaf's Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Web service won the charter Microsoft .NET Best award for horizontal XML Web service solutions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First book that describes the VERY important SP1 features!, August 28, 2004

By 

Richard Schulthess "Rich Schulthess" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Introducing Microsoft® Office InfoPath(TM) 2003 (Bpg-Other) (Paperback)

I was delighted when I saw that this book was written by my favorite technical author, Roger Jennings. Maybe it's just me but I'm often disappointed by other tech authors. I'm sure they know their stuff but I find them devoting most of their writing to describing issues and details that, for some reason, don't relate to my problems in trying to leverage the subject's technology. Not so with Roger! He ably describes the details I need to quickly become successful. One key word describes his superiority - Relevance!

Save your money and DO NOT buy any InfoPath book that is not based upon the SP1 version! It's MUCH more than just a service pack, it's really like "InfoPath 2004" instead, adding a whole host of vitally important features including full Tablet PC support, integration with Visual Studio for developers, Email forms deployment, Security enhancements, and more. MAJOR stuff!

While this is the first book that covers the SP1 version, I bet it will remain among the very best even after all the other authors catch up!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WHY and BECAUSE this is a useless book,, February 28, 2005

By 

nick (Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introducing Microsoft® Office InfoPath(TM) 2003 (Bpg-Other) (Paperback)

In absolute agreement to Steamboat Willy.

This is the only book on InfoPath that has been translated into Italian. A non-programmer colleague has read this book from cover to cover to try and work with infopath. However, even though he has followed each example, the lack of any explaination as to WHY he was performing the various tasks given within the book, or what aim the author has in mind both of the task or explaining the task means that today he is none the wiser. The step-by-step approach to each task without explaining the outcomes, what to do when it doesn't go as you suggest, or giving the user any idea where the writer is going with an example makes problem-solving nigh on impossible, and the work seem useless.

Further, the examples are all based on ready-made forms, that quickly become too complex to deconstruct, even after reading this book, he is unable to project a form from the beginning, or to realise how to overcome diffculties in a project.

This book is not an instructive manual for a beginner on how to use Infopath, possibly useful as a "how do I..." reference for specific activities however, you will find the same things on Google that you have written in this book.

Personally, I would return the book asking for my money back.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only How-To's and nothing about why something is done, January 24, 2005

By 

Steamboat Willy (Rockford, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introducing Microsoft® Office InfoPath(TM) 2003 (Bpg-Other) (Paperback)

This book was ok in some respects but the author went into the "NorthWind Trader" pieces too much and didnt explain how to get from point A-G only from point D-G which really frustrated me. Also the author rarely explains WHY you would ever use a feature or anything he talks about and just explains how to. Which is useless for someone like me who needs to have a WHY WHEN and HOW to understand the processes that are explained.